Law of obedience - finding the fullness of joy

*The shortest distance between you and the life you want is total obedience to Christ.

John 15:10-11,
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as i have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

*sin always has a price, and the price is in direct proportion to the sin.

Life is lived infront of a two-way mirror. God can see us, but we can't see Him.

What happens when we disobey God?
->you cannot break the laws of God. You can only break yourself against His laws when you ignore or violate them.

->Sin always has a price, and the price is in direct proportion to the sin. Some sins have a greater consequence than others.

What is the price of disobedience?
The price of disobedience comes in 2 forms.
(i) it comes in the natural cause-and-effect consequences of our actions.
(ii) divine dicipline, commensurate with the sin.

Why does God require obedience from us?
-> everything God asks of us, He does so because He wants to give something good to us and/or keep us from harm.

What is the result of obefience?
-> the Scripture promise joy for obedience.
->joy is the consequences of obedience.

OBEDIENCE IS NOT AS HARD IF WE BECOME PERSUADED THAT IT IS NOT ONLY FOR GOD'S GLORY BUT ALSO FOR OUR GOOD.

Great blessing come to the person who is scrupulously obedient to the Scriptures, who doesn't ask, 'how much can I get away with?', but rather, 'how obedient can I be?'.

If you believe obedience is the shortest way/distance between you and the life you want, you will obey. When you disobey, it is bwcause there has been a breakdown of your faith.

Sorry guys if I took so long. was kinda indulge with twitter, hehe. But I'm continueing my daily readin so I can share what I learn whenever I have time. See you all soon. Also pls pray for me. Results are coming out soon. :)

Chapter 2: Law of Holiness. The right way to live is to live right

THE RIGHT WAY TO LIVE IS TO LIVE RIGHT.

*THE KEY TO HOLY LIVING IS "READY REPENTANCE" OF SIN*

1 Peter 1:15-16

As He who called you is holy,
You also be holy in all your conduct
Because it is written, "be holy for I am holy".

What is the biblical mandate for holiness?
->the mandate for holiness is found in 1 Peter 1:15-16

The holiness referred to here doesn't mean theoritically holiness that looks forward to our complete holiness in heaven. It means practical holiness.

God would be less than God if he called us to a lesser standard. But at the same time, knowing we cannot become sinlessly perfect while still on earth, He has provided a way for us to live holy - though imperfect - lives by cultivating a spirit of ready repentance.

What is the relationship between repentance and holiness?

*DEEP REPENTANCE PRODUCE DEEP FORGIVENESS, WHICH RESULTS IN DEEP MINISTRY WITH OTHERS.*

Practical holiness is rooted in repentance. When we are called to holy living, we fear that God expects us never to sin again. I'll tell you, its hopeless. God knows it as well. However, the blood of Christ cleanses His children from all sin.

PRACTICAL HOLINESS IS ROOTED IN REPENTANCE.

Holy living must be taken seriously, but we must also be ready to accept the grace of God when we sin. As we sharpen and cultivate our understanding of holiness of God, we gain a clearer sense of our own unholiness. This drives us to deeper and deeper repentance, which makes us more and more usable by the Lord.

What final lesson can be learned about holiness?
-> We must take holy living seriously, but we must also take seriously God's grace and forgiveness when we sin.

1) To repent means, literally to turn around.
2) God's agenda for the rest of our lives on earth is our growth into greater holiness.
3) We're not cleansed from the effects of our sin without pain.
4) The great task of holiness is grow up by growing down. Tricky I know. I shall explain. Christians become greater by getting smaller. Pride blows us up like balloons but grace punctures our conceit and let the hot, proud air out of our system.
5) We all fail living a holy life.
6) As we grow spiritually, we begin to see how short we fall of Jesus' character.
7) To grow weaker is to grow stronger.
-> To accept each days' trouble, pain and failure as evidence of our weakness, our need for God's strength is key to our daily cultivation of holiness.
8) When we sin, it doesn't mean our salvation is jeopardized, its just mean our fellowship with God is broken.

Woaaaahhhhhh. So much more to learn don't you guys think. I really want to thank miss pushpa for lending me this book. Man, I'm enjoying reading. Well imaprting too. Ahaha. Tomorrow I'll be reading up on the law of obedience and will be talking about the fullness of joy. I'm so excited! Well that's all for now, that's what I've learned today so see you guys soon.

Continuation

How can we cultivate greater capacity for happiness?

*By being grateful for the things God has given us, rather than ungrateful for what He has not given us.

Once we laid foundation for happiness by putting God in the center of our lives, we gain daily happiness largely by taking pleasure out of little things in life rather than demanding a succession of big thingS. If only big things makes us happy, we won't have a very happy life.

*Remember: God is the only source of pure happiness and unconditional love.

Imagine what life would be like without food, clothing and shelter. Imagine you had to fear someone kicking the door in and finding you worshipping. Imagine if you lost the freedoms guaranteed in constitution. Imagin if you did not have anyone to love you or anyone to love. Imagine what life would be like if you didn't have little things to brighten your life.

We must learn to:
(i) be aware of the things we like.
(ii) be more appreciative of them

From there our capacity for happiness would increase.

Joy in the life depends on accepting the will of God in our lives and focusing on God's love, what He has done for us' is doing for us and will do for us. Joy depends on enjoying the salvation brought to us in Jesus and knowing all our ultimate needs in life have already been met, and God will see us through the hard times. Joy depends on serving Jesus, telling others about Him, knowing God has chosen to use our feeble efforts to advance His kingdom.

Happiness is a gift to those who follow God's truth.

Not all christians can know happiness. Clearly some non-Christian are happier than some Christians.

The surest road to happiness is living for God, placing our ultimate hope in the next world, and learning to be grateful for the small things that come our way in this world.

That's basically the summary of the first chapter. I'll blog about the 2nd chapter either later night or tomorrow morning :p see you guys soon.

Book: 21 unbreakable laws of life

1. THE LAW OF HAPPINESS - AN UNEXPECTED GIFT.
*Happiness isn't found by pursuing it;
It is a by-product of pursuing God.*

- In Your presence is fulness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalms 16:11

What do most people want out of life?
- Most people wants to be happy.

People have different views as what would it take to make them happy while others persues happiness. Money makes some people happy while others are happy in poverty. Not that they are happy about their poorness but at least they have each other to support and get each other's back.

Blaise Pascal once said that,

'All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attending with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this objective. This is the motive of every man, even of those who hang themselves.'

As christians, we may be vaguely uncomfortable admitting happiness is a priority for us. It doesn't sound spiritual. Yet the bible doesn't seem to shy away from presenting happiness as a valid longing;

Psalms 42:1-2 says,
As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for You, o God.
I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I go and stand before Him?

Psalms 63:1 says,
O God, You are my God;
I earnestly search for You.
My soul thirst for You;
My whole body longs for You
In this parched and weary lands
Where there is no water.

Psalms 16:11 says,
You will show me the way of life,
Granting me the joy of Your presence
And the pleasure of living with You forever.

The verses above states of deep longings we have and implies that fulfillment of these longings, as well as joy and pleasure, are things God does not find objectionable in humanity. Rather, He seems to encourage it as long as our pursuit of happiness is centered in Him.

How can we be happy?
-> by pursuing God, and trusting Him for happiness.

According to Max Anders;

'if happiness for us comes only through maintaining a sufficient flow of favorable circumstances, life will be pretty hard on most of us. First, we cannot be happy merely withe pleasurable circumstances. Pleasurable circumstances make good frosting but not a good cake. Second, even if circumstances could make us happy, we cannot control them adequately enough to bring us consistent happiness.'

Ok I'll continue the part about pleasurable circumstances later today. Its getting really late(2am) ahaha. So yeah. I'll continue later. :)

When man ruled himself

This one was supposedly to be shared back last year(28th December 09) but yeah, I have been busy and a lot of crazy things happened. Well anyway, moving on to my sharing.

'Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though they join forces, none will go unpunished.
-Proverbs 16:5

Reading my bible is realy an awesome way to find out more about God. I read through about noah and his family and how obedient he was to the Lord.

After the flood, God has given Noah and his family 5 things to do. That is:

(i) replenish the Earth with people.
(ii) take dominion over all animals.
(iii) use animals for their food.
(iv) take green herbs for their food.
(v) obey God's law of a life for a life.

After the long confinement in the ark, what did Noah first do?

->His first act was to glorify God by erecting an altar and sacrificing burnt offerings upon it.

It was then that God made a covenant with Noah that He would never again destroy earth with a flood.

God is only pleased with those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.' (john 14:6). If we love the Lord because He saved us, we know that nothing we can do with the works of our hands will gain access to heaven. We know that we must come to God in His way.

Ok. That's the first thing I wanna share. I will post another one for what I've read a while ago.

welcome 2010

Hey guys! Its been a while. Sorry if i wasn't able to blog for weeks. I was busy with party planning and other stuff! Oh well, I'll continue my reading soon.

Haha. Well, I don't have much mood to share anything today. I'm still thinking of what happened yesterday. Well we sent Aaron off yesterday. The first OLDER friend who I treated and loved like a real brother. Oh it is real btw. he's really a brother to me :).

I'll just start off sharing again tomorrow. So yeah. See you guys!!