Love and Power

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, (Ephesians 3:17-18)

I always envision ourselves as trees. Sprouting from the ground with constant care from God. Right amount of sunlight, right amount of water and right amount of care. When plants grow, they put roots in the ground, and that’s to be firmly standing when a strong wind comes and tries to knock them over.

God is a caring father who pays so much attention to our every little thing, and wants what’s good for us. He wants us to be rooted and grounded in his love. The verse in Ephesians mentions that I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power. Meaning being rooted in love come before having power. Power without love is reckless and can be abusive, even. (Martin Luther King’s quote)

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)

Without love, it is meaningless. We can evangelize and do all the works and even prophecy and heal people, but is that coming from a place of true love? It is a question we should ask ourselves daily.

I think it is crucial to always check if we are rooted in love.

On the flip side, what about love without power? What if we are rooted in love but we don’t exercise the power of Christ? Love without power is sentimental and anemic. (Martin Luther King’s quote, also) We can sit in our own comfort of home and fill ourselves with God’s love, but what are we doing with it? If we are truly overflowing with his love, then there will be an urge to go out and love on others as well, because that is the heart of Christ. Ministry without power, and especially evangelism without power is not very effective. I’ve seen it happen, I’m not saying it is totally not effective but when you are evangelizing with the Holy spirit guiding you and giving you instruction, it becomes SO MUCH more powerful.

Lord I pray that I always remain rooted in your love before anything else. So that when trials and tribulations come I will not shake, but will be firmly grounded in you. Amen!

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Everyday Thanksgiving

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

For days, I never questioned why my hairbrush was so clean (when every time I brushed my hair I shed like a golden retriever lol) Usually my hairbrush looks like a furball.

One day I saw Brian (my husband) cleaning my hairbrush in the bathroom. He’s been doing this all this time so that I can have a clean brush!

My hairbrush Brian cleaned

I never knew there were so many things he does that I wasn’t even aware of. He just did them quietly even when I failed to recognize them. I am always humbled by the way he is, and his huge heart of serving. I bet this is how God is like too, we fail to recognize so many things God has blessed us with, because they are just trivial things. But regardless he continues to love us.

If you really think about it there is thousands of things to be thankful for, yet we just take them for granted. I just wanted to take some time just to sit and be thankful for everything he has blessed me with😊 (Since it’s a day off)

I am healthy, and have all of my limbs, I have enough money to buy my favorite brand of yogurt from time to time, I have both of my parents who loves me very very much, and I have a roof over my head, the air I breathe and I get to see beautiful sunrise and sunset with my husband. I have a voice, so I can sing, I have vision so I can read, and see the ones I love. God even made cute animals like Alpacas and Capybaras. I am thankful for a million things! For my church, my friends, my husband, my family, my job… THANK YOU JESUS!!!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever. (Psalms 106:1)

I held on to my hairbrush and started to cry, I hugged my husband and asked him “Why didn’t you ever tell me that you were doing this! I’m so sorry I never recognized it. I’m so sorry that I never said anything“ He smiled and said because I love you! Then he was busy wiping my tears away saying why you cryin’ lol

Lord, I’m so sorry I never said anything, I took many things for granted, forgive me. I want to spend every day with joyful heart of thanksgiving, Amen.

The workers are few

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

The word “evangelism” seems to be intimidating to a lot of Christians. Especially during seasons like this, where everyone is “social distancing” we automatically assume it would be tough to evangelize. I think in a way we use Covid as a shield, almost like an excuse to stay in our comfortable bubble and “keep safe”.

Jesus said the harvest is plentiful. So the harvest isn’t an issue. There are so many people in this world that needs to be ministered to and we need to spread the good news of Christ to them. The problem is with the laborers. No one is going out to the field, and why is that? For me, I think it is part fear and part complacency. Evangelism is for missionaries in Cambodia? No, we are all called to spread the Gospel.

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15)

Me, Brian and couple of the people from the church got together and made these “care packages (covid edition)” filled with all the essentials, such as soap, hand sanitizer, masks, mini bible, tissue and couple of snacks, as well as a hand-written card. We wanted to just reach out to people and spread the love of God. 🙂 It was so much fun making these packages and praying for people we can hand this out to.

I gave my care package to a police officer guy who was working outside a large grocery store today, and he kept on saying “God bless you” and I ended up feeling MORE blessed. You would be surprised the huge smile on him, he looked like he just won a lottery. Many people are dying and the depression is rising, if churches are asleep or hiding, who’s going to be the light and hope that can point people to Jesus? No one.

People are desperate for love. Not just any human love but the love of God.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

Here I am God, Send me.

What is love?

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Today on Sept. 2nd, I got “legally married” to my husband Brian. Because of the Coronavirus, we had to get married over video call to the state of San Mateo, CA. It was a terribly un-romantic way to get married because the very first thing on this video call the lady who was “officiating” the wedding said was, “It’s gonna be 80 dollars for wedding and 60 dollars for marriage license, we accept VISA or Mastercard.” LOL 😀 I started to chuckle, because I just found it so funny that this is what my legal marriage would look like lol.

Love is a wonderful thing, and we talk about it all the time. But if someone were to ask me what I think love is, I still have a hard time answering that question.

What is love to you?

The famous verse about love in the 1 Corinthians is probably the most cited verse for any marriage ceremony, and also happened to be part of my daily reading today. (Our Daily Bread) How timely is it? That on the day of my legal marriage ceremony, God gave me this exact verse to meditate on?

Interestingly enough, the very first thing this verse said about “what love is” is that love is patient.

Let’s be honest, when you think of love, is “patience” the very first thing that comes to mind? For me, whenever I think of love I think of passion, elation, and excitement. All the butterflies in my stomach. But the bible says otherwise. It talks about how love endures, is not proud, is not easily angered and keeps record of no wrongs. Not exactly all the “giddy feelings” and “having fun” but this is what mature love looks like.

God is Love.

When I read 1 Corinthians, I think of God, and his very nature. God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. God honors us and he is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

How can I love others well? was always a question in my heart, but I think my answer to this is becoming more like Christ through having a close relationship with God. Because he is the source of love.

Lord, I want to be more like you, teach me your ways of love, not the way of this world, but your way. Fill us with your love daily, that we may love others from the overflow of your love, Amen!

We are fools for Christ.

We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment. (1 Corinthians 4:12-13)

There is a way of this world that makes sense to a common people. Eye for an eye. When we are cursed, we curse back and retaliate. For a long time, I felt this way about everything. They DESERVE to be punished, how can they? How dare are they? We need to make sure the evil ones get what they deserve.

Everyone needs to get what they deserve.

If this statement was true, what did I deserve? What did we deserve as the sinner? We did not deserve to be with God in Heaven. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Is there anyone without sin? We all deserved death. But by God’s grace, we were given a pathway to our salvation through Jesus on the cross. We got a gift, instead of eternal damnation.

There are multiple verses in the bible which talks about how the way of Jesus works. It sounds a bit ridiculous, to actively love on people who hate us, but that’s what exactly Jesus did to us.

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:27-31)

I want to model my life after Jesus, as a CHRISTian, we are called to live in the way of Jesus.

The other day me and my husband was driving down the streets of San Mateo, and there was a crazy car swerving and almost coming close to hitting us. It was SO scary to think that we could’ve gotten into a bad car accident, but in that moment, instead of honking the horn for 10 seconds and cursing the driver (is probably what I would have done before) my husband reached his hand out and said “May Jesus bless them!” I was stunned and so humbled by his response and patience through a situation like this.

I believe when we love on the ones that hurt us, or curse us, there is something immensely powerful that happens in the heavenly realm. God sees our obedience, and works in such a powerful way. I have witnessed many miracles while trying this new way of thinking and living. If you haven’t tried, please give it a shot.

Lord, we want to live just like the way Jesus lived his life. Teach us to be humble and to love on those who hate us.