The Purpose Driven Life - My Journey Day 7
화요일, 2월 28, 2006

The reason for everything

Living for God's glory is our greatest achievement we can accomplish with our lives.

How can I bring glory to God?
When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God. The glory of God is a human being fully alive!

We bring glory by worshipping Him; to be motivated by love, thanksgiving, and delight, not duty.

We bring glory by loving other believers. "Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified."
"As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you live one another."

We bring glory by becoming like Christ; by going through the character process He has prepared for us.

We bring glory by serving others with our gifts and talents.

We bring glory by telling others about Him. "As God's grace brings more and more people to Christ, ... God will receive more and more glory."

What will you live for?
"Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God."

Jesus will give you everything you need to live for Him. It is a matter of BELIEVING & RECEIVING.

Romans 11:36; "For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by His power, and everything is for His glory."

Erwinator wrote at 2:44 오후 | 0 snowflowers

A Father Prayer
월요일, 2월 27, 2006

A dedication to my beloved Heavenly Father & my beloved Dad.

Erwinator wrote at 5:11 오후 | 1 snowflowers

The Purpose Driven Life - My Journey Day 06

Life is a temporary assignment

You won't be here for long, so don't get attached.

Your identity is eternity. Your homeland is heaven. When you grasp this truth, you will stop worrying about 'having it all' on earth.

"Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourself cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul."

"All that is not eternal is eternally useless." - C. S. Lewis

In God's eyes, the greatest heroes of faith are not those who achieve prosperity, success, and power in this life, but those who treat this life as a temporary assignment and serve faithfully, expecting their promised reward in eternity.

"All these great people died in faith. They did not get the things that God promised His people, but they saw them coming far in the future and were glad. They said they were like visitors and strangers on earth ... they were waiting for a better country - a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God, because He has prepared a city for them."

When life gets tough, when you're overwhelmed with doubt, or when you wonder if living for Christ is worth the effort, remember that you're not home yet. At death you won't leave home - you'll go home.

2 Corinthians 4:18; "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For wghat is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Erwinator wrote at 4:00 오후 | 0 snowflowers

The Purpose Driven Life - My Journey Day 05
일요일, 2월 26, 2006

Seeing Life from God's View

The way you see life shapes your life.

What is your view of life? To fulfill the purposes God made you for, you will have to challenge conventional wisdom and replace it with the biblical metaphos of life.

The three metaphors are;
  1. Life is a test
  2. Life is a trust
  3. Life is a temporary assignment
LIFE IS A TEST
God continually test people's characters, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty.
Character is developed and revealed by tests.

You will be tested by major changes, delay promises, impossible poblems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism, and even senseless tragedies.

God tests our faith through problems, tests hope by how we handle possessions, and test our love through people.

A very important test is how you act when you can't feel God's presence in your life.

When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life. Even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Everyday is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.

"God keep His promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, He will give you the strenght to endure it, and so provide you with a way out."

"Blessed are those who endure when the are tested. When they pass the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him."

LIFE IS A TRUST
Our life is being trsuted to us by God. We belong to Him. The first job He gave us was to 'manage' and 'take care' of our life and all the things on earth.

"Those who are trusted with something valuable must show that they are worthy of that trust."

If we treat everything as a trust, God will;
  1. Give an affirmation - He will say, "Good job! Well done!"
  2. Give a promotion - He will say, "I will put you in charge of many things."
  3. Give a celebration - He will say, "Come and share you Master's happiness."
"If you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?"

Life is like a test and a trust, and the more God gives you, the more responsible He expects you to be.

Luke 16:10a; "Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones."

Erwinator wrote at 6:44 오후 | 1 snowflowers

The Purpose Driven Life - My Journey Day 04
토요일, 2월 25, 2006

Made to last forever

This life is preparation for next. The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appear. When you live in light of eternity, your values change.

The most damaging aspect of contemporary living is short-term thinking. There is more to life than just here and now! Eternity is all the rest you don't see underneath the surface.

“For us this is the end of all the stories … But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and which every chapter is better than the one before.” – C. S. Lewis

Only a fool would go through life unprepared for what we all know will eventually happen.

Measured against eternity, our time on earth is a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever.

It would be wise to live each day as if it were the last day of our life. As Matthew Henry said, "It ought to be the business of everyday to prepare for our final day."

1 John 2:17; "This world is fading away, along with everything it craves,. But if you do the will of God, youu will live forever."

Erwinator wrote at 3:40 오후 | 0 snowflowers

The Purpose Driven Life - My Journey Day 03
금요일, 2월 24, 2006

What drives your life?

The 5 main circumstances, emotions & values that can drive your life;

  1. Many people are driven by GUILT - These type of people are manipulated by their memories. God's purpose is not limited by our past. He is specialized in giving people a fresh start! - "What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! ... What a relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record.
  2. Many people are driven by RESENTMENT AND ANGER - Those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold onto the pain through resentment. - "To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do."
  3. Many people are driven by FEAR - Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God wants you to be. You can defeat it through Faith & Love. "Well-formed love banishes fear."
  4. Many people are driven by MATERIALISM - This tends to drive people to wanting to possess more. Possession only provide temporary happiness.
  5. Many people are driven by THE NEED FOR APPROVAL - This includes expectations from parents and peer-pressure.
By KNOWING your purpose;
In the end, God will asks us 2 questions;
  1. "What did you do with My Son, Jesus Christ?"
  2. "What did you do with what I gave you?
The 1st question will determine where you spend eternity.
The 2nd question will determine what you do in eternity.

Isaiah 26:3; "You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in You."

Erwinator wrote at 11:14 오후 | 0 snowflowers

A poem by Russell Kelfer
목요일, 2월 23, 2006

You are who you are for a reason.
You're part of an incrite plan.
You're precious and perfect unique design,
Called God's special woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
You're just what He wanted to make.

The parents you had were the ones He chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They were custom-designed with God's plan in mind,
And they bear the Master's seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into His likeness you'd grow.

You are who you are for a reason,
You've been formed by the Master's rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God!

By: Russell Kelfer

Erwinator wrote at 6:17 오후 | 0 snowflowers

The Purpose Driven Life - My Journey Day 02

You are NOT an accident

Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in God's mind.

All the evidence available in the biological sciences supports the core proposition ... that the cosmos is a specially designed whole with life and mankind as its fundamental goal and purpose, a whole in which all facets of reality have their meaning and explanation in this central fact.

God made you so that He could love you! He wanted to make you in order to express His love. If there was NO God, we would all be "accidents", the result of astronomical random chance in the universe.

Romans 12:3; "The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and what He does for us."

Erwinator wrote at 6:06 오후 | 0 snowflowers

The WAY, TRUTH & LIFE

Erwinator wrote at 6:04 오후 | 1 snowflowers

The Purpose Driven Life - My Journey Day 01
수요일, 2월 22, 2006

IT ALL STARTS WITH GOD - it's not about me.

You were born by His purpose and for His purpose.
You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for HIS purpose, not your using him or your own purpose.

The Bible says; "Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into spacious, free life."

To find the purpose, you must not be SELF-CENTERED; for the Bible says; "Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, My way, to finding yourself; your true self."

God is, not only the starting point of your life, but He is the source of it & to discover your purpose, you have to turn to His Words [The Bible] - not the world's wisdom. This means that you have to build a relationship with Jesus Christ!

"It's in Christ that we found out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had His eyes on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone."

Colossians 1:16b; "Everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him."

Erwinator wrote at 11:17 오후 | 0 snowflowers

A Weekend in London
토요일, 2월 18, 2006

A weekend in London - for the first time, was quite a journey. A 3 hours trip on my friend's car was quite an experience; such a small car.

Then slept the night in Richmond, had some Arabic dish. Then an early night in order to get up for an early Saturday morning.

Saturday morning; out the house at 8a.m - went to some art exhibitions and the day went so fast.

It was already late night when we walked home... about 10.30p.m - didn't feel like we walked for almost 15 hours!

The above picture is at Southbank - overlooking the Westminster Palace and Big Ben [which was not even BIG].

It was a loverly weekend! Thanks to God - then Mazin & family, who let me stayed at his joint & ate & took me around to places; then to Kush, who gave me a ride to London.

It was an unforgetable weekend all around.

Erwinator wrote at 3:14 오후 | 1 snowflowers