Journey to God in Small Steps

Religion alone - the practices and rituals of spirituality to reach out to a god/gods - can't save us. We can be born into a religion but it does not make us true worshipers from the beginning. In fact, you will find that at an early age to our teen years, we had to grapple with certain habits - cursing, lying, selfishness, sexual perversions, unrestrained anger, rebellion, jealousy, and more - even though we know these violate God's standards. And yet we do them anyway. Why? Because religion alone cannot save nor change us. Self-discipline and rules are not enough to make us change. "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,  which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces  of this world  rather than on Christ... These are a shadow of the things that were to come;  the reality, however, is found in Christ ... These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish  with use, are ba...

Our passage for reading is in Mark 12:28-31 about the two greatest commandments. It says: " One of the teachers of the law  came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,”  answered Jesus,  “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.   Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength .’ The second is this: ‘ Love your neighbor as yourself .’ There is no commandment greater than these.” In another account in Matthew 22:34-40: " Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,  the Pharisees got together.   One of them, an expert in the law,  tested him with this question:   “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied:  “‘ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and wi...

Photo Credit: www.balloonlady.co.uk One morning God impressed to me a picture of Goofy, the character from Disney who's friends with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, holding many colorful balloons in his hand. Then, as if to contrast the difference, my eyes instinctively went to a portion of the picture where the balloons, instead of held, are released and soaring up in the sky. Sometimes letting go seems that way. Balloons are beautiful you want to keep them, in all colors if you wish. But then they become more wonderful and at times breathtaking when they just float up in the air, as high as balloons can fly the way they were designed to do. They bring a noticeable color that is in contrast to the sky which tends to remain in hues of blue, white, orange, or purple sometimes, which I just happened to witness last month. Some things or people in our lives perhaps God is asking us to release - a loved one, property, sin, a child, or dreams. These things or people become more b...

Framework:  Discipleship Class, 2012 Photo Credits:  Truth, http://www.mynewnormals.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/truthU.png Cross, http://www.stockopedia.com/ Victory, http://www.beacontn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/victory.jpg

Last night, I felt God's smile and joy as sons and daughters have come home. God is so happy and if God is happy, I am thankful. Nevertheless, we have to address a need of people, which is to recover and heal from oppression, people would call these days as "bullying." Bullying indeed is not a light issue. I had been bullied in different parts of my life before, by people I knew and people I did not know so much. I repressed a lot of my pain and it resulted in depression and some of my negative habits that I turn to make sure I don't get bullied again. I have projected my "bullies" on unknown people and that's when I knew the trauma has been repressed. While I have come to terms with my own pain about it, I use my experience to comfort others who have been through more than I had. The personal justice I got from God, without hurting my offender but letting God bring out the truth of the matter as He healed me, made me feel secure in God. ...