Pray, faith, love and service in Christ Jesus

The fruit of silence is prayer

The fruit of prayer is faith

The fruit of faith is love

The fruit of love is service


and above all things, there's Christ whose the reason we do all these things..

The Will of God

1 Thessalonians 5:14-18,

"And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
(ESV)

"Let it be done,O Lord, in my life", I pray.

I'm right, because of...

Have u ever thought or believed like this? That you measure on how good you are as a Christian based on what you have done? Or perhaps something simpler than that, like counting how many days you have spent in a week for church activities. I did! But I’m grateful and thanking God for making it clear for me, that it’s not the truth. I praise God for this.

Unconsciously, I used to feel good when I spent a lot of time or at least enough time – in my own human standard, for church activities or different ministries. It’s not wrong to serve our brothers and sisters at church and also enjoy our time during church activities, indeed it’s the thing that we’re encouraged to do. But, now I realized that it’s not the place that I can find my assurance. When I can be sure that I’m righteous in front of God. Though, we can only find our assurance in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Only because He was dying in our place and take away the punishment that we should bear because of our sin, we’re made right in front of God. In Romans 3:21-26, Paul said,

“21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had pass over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (ESV)

And we can’t just measure or count our Christianity based on the day or time that we spent at church or for church activities. Because our Christian life is not only when we are at church at Sunday or when we’re serving others, but it involves our whole life. Let every small decision that we make, reflect how the true follower of Christ should live.

Kekuatiran.. dan Kuasa Allah..

Minggu lalu, di gereja kita membahas tentang Kuasa Terbesar. Pembacaan alkitabnya diambil dari Markus 1:21-28. Dari perikop ini, kita bisa melihat bagaimana perkataan Tuhan Yesus memiliki autoritas, dan ini terbukti ketika Tuhan Yesus mengajar, Ia mengajar mereka sebagai orang yang berkuasa, tidak seperti ahli-ahli Taurat, sehingga mereka pun takjub (ayat 22). Dan ketika Yesus menyembuhkan seorang dari belenggu kuasa Iblis, orang-orang menjadi bertanya-tanya, karena mereka menyaksikan sendiri bagaimana Yesus memiliki kuasa bahkan diatas kuasa Iblis (ayat 23-27).

Hari itu kita juga diajak untuk melihat tentang rasa kekuatiran yang ada pada setiap manusia. Sadar atau tidak sadar, setiap individu pasti memiliki kekuatiran yang berbeda satu dengan yang lain. Sesuatu yang kita gumuli. Pak pendeta berpendapat bahwa kekuatiran ada ketika kita tidak tahu akan apa yang akan terjadi. Ketika ketidakpastian itu hadir di hidup kita. Contoh kekuatiran yang sering dialami oleh kita semua, adalah kekuatiran tentang masa depan, ketika apa yang akan terjadi di hidup kita tidaklah jelas.

Kekuatiran diibaratkan seperti kuasa ketakutan yang ada di dalam hati kita. Namun sebagai umat Kristen, kita tahu bahwa ketika kita menerima Yesus sebagai Juru Selamat pribadi kita, Ia telah menganugerahkan kuasa Roh Kudus di dalam diri kita. Roh Kudus yang berkuasa inilah yang seharusnya diberi kuasa penuh untuk menuntun hidup kita.

Sebagai seorang Kristen, karena kita masi hidup di dalam tubuh dan dunia yang tidak sempurna ini, jadi kita masi sering dilingkupi oleh kuasa ketakutan atau kekuatiran tersebut. Namun, itu bukanlah hal yang Allah inginkan. Ia menginginkan kita untuk bersandar pada kuasa Roh Kudus. Dan aku percaya, ketika kita selalu berserah dan bersandar kepada Tuhan dalam doa dan taat pada Firman-Nya, Kuasa-Nya akan memenangkan diri kita dari kuasa ketakutan itu.

Jadi, ketika kita menghadapi realita hidup yang berat dan susah kita terima, percaya bahwa kita perlahan-lahan pasti bisa menjalani dan melewatinya. Karena di dalam diri kita, sudah ada kuasa Allah yang bernaung dalam kehadiran Roh Kudus. Tinggal apakah kita mau setia dan patuh kepda Allah kita yang penuh kasih itu?

Marilah kita saling mendukung dan berdoa untuk saudara kita dalam Kristus, untuk berpegang teguh kepada iman kita akan Yesus Kristus.

in Christ Jesus,

Fefe

Always.. remember who you are..

I'm rejoicing as I read 1 Peter 2 and being reminded again about what Christians are called to do as follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Peter said in 1 Peter 2:4-5,

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (ESV)

I was reminded again, that we're called to be a Holy people. That's who we are, people who are longoing to have our renewed day by day and striving to be more like Christ. And as what Peter encouraged in His letter (v.11-12),we're doing this, so we can be a living testimonies to people around us and bring all glory back to our God the Father.

It might not be easy and pleasant, but there's always an enouragement in it, when we know that our work is not in vain, that Jesus understands what we're going through, since He, at the beginning has suffered for us, leaving us an example, so we might follow His steps.

It might mean being obedient, though it against our own will, or it might be sacrificing our own ego. But, he who is faithful and gracoius will keep His promise. He will be the one that enables us to be obedient, humble and loving. Through our life, he's teaching us to be more like himself. Though, we're unfaithful and make lots of mistakes, God is able to use our human fault to put things right according to His plan and bring glory back to Himself.

I believe that God's plan is good and never fails.

Let us always remember who we are. By God's mercy, we're made righteous and called to be sanctified. Let our speech, conduct and in our love, faith and purity, be a living testimonies to people around us..

2 months holiday isn't enough?!

I feel that my holiday isn't long enough. Indeed, it feels that short when it comes to the end, when only two weeks left. I wish I'm here (back in my lovely hometown – Magelang) a little longer. Especially, when I know that those whom I love, stay here left behind when I'm back at Sydney. I'm not saying that I don't love my families in Sydney, they're just as lovely as those are here :)

It always amaze me how God has been working in people's heart and life – including mine. I'm grateful that I met lots of people at my homechurch, and saw and hear how the spirit of God is working in their heart, so that they do have those passion to be involved in church activities and desire to understand the word of God.

As I meet and having conversation personally with some sisters in Christ here, God teach me to care and pray for them. It's something that I've been struggling in particular, since it doesn't come naturally for me. But, God heard my prayers and did teach me how to pray with love, instead of obligation, and I thank God for this. It's really not something that I'm able to do without God being merciful to me.

I wish, I can read the bible with them together regularly every week – something like what we're doing in Sydney together to help each to grow in our knowlede and faith in Christ. It's hard to see the fact that it's not possible, since I'll be back to Sydney soon and in fact there is not enough girls that will be able to meet up with them individually.

Yet, I do believe that God will always work in their heart and they will grow in their faith in Christ. I hope that I can always support them with my prayer.

In Christ,

Fefe

This is my life?? or CHRIST's?

All the plan for the day was changed as I opened my eyes this morning.
All the excitements suddenly were gone. I could feel, it was really easy for me just to throw myself into this 'crancky mood' - this remind me of how weak we're in the flesh.
I did feel that i was not on the mood of doing anything apart what i was planning to do for the day, though I know that I have something else I need to do.

As I'm forcing myself not just procrastinating and read this book by Joshua Harris, titled 'Sex is not the problem (lust is)', I found myself to be reminded again that my life is designed more than just for self-indulgence, but i was called to serve my Lord Jesus Christ. And it doesn't mean, sit back, relax and serving my own desire.
Serving Jesus = serving others. And it's not just things that's visible, but also the one that others might not being aware of.
As what Paul said in his letter to the Philippians, he call us to have the same mind as Christ, to imitate his humility, as what he's done on the cross (Phil 2:6-8).
In humility, we are called, to count others more significant than ourself (v.3). This may be one thing that we can meditate day by day as people of Christ.

I thank God for his everlasting love and mercy towards His people. Thank Him that he never stop working in my life, renewing my mind day by day, though I'm weak in the flesh.
Hope that I may stand firm in one spirit and having one mind striving side by side with the faith of the gospel.