나 같은 죄인 살리신

나 같은 죄인 살리신 주 은혜 놀라와
잃었던 생명 찾았고 광명을 얻었네

큰 죄악에서 건지신 주 은혜 놀라와
나 처음 믿은 그 시간 귀하고 귀하다

이제껏 내가 산것도 주님의 은혜라
또 나를 장차 존향에 인도해 주시리

거기서우리 영원히 주님의 은혜로
해처럼 밝게 살면서 주 찬양 하리라


Maybe my ears got too used to the English version of Amazing Grace, or I am just really a lot more Korean than American... When I sing this song in Korean, it moves me like no other..

The Forgiveness of God

from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

"In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins . . . " —Ephesians 1:7

Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.

Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.

http://utmost.org/

Let the Words of My Mouth...

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." - Ephesians 4:29

God has been showing me how DIRTY my mouth is!! Okay, it's not that I use profanity or anything, but I speak so many words that do not build up, that do not fit the occasion, that do not give grace to those who hear...


And reading this was kinda scary.

"You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of your heart the mouth speaks... I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." - Matthew 12:34, 36-37

Boy, every careless word!! And guess what? My corrupting talk is the matter of the heart. My heart!! Condemned by your own words?! Ahh..


But there is of course a BUT =) When Isaiah saw the LORD, He realized his unworthiness, his unclean lips. But Isaiah speaks of hope for those with unclean lips.

"Woe me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'" - Isaiah 6:5-7

Through the sacrifice on the altar, Isaiah's lips were made clean; his sin atoned for. Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, my lips were made clean; my sin atoned for. Thank You Jesus!


"assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
- Ephesians 4:21-24

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer."
- Psalm 19:14

"Blessed is the one who trusts in You!"

"My son, do not forget my teaching,

but let your heart keep my commandments,

for length of days and years of life

and peace they will add to you.

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;

bind them around your neck;

write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good success

in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes;

fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your flesh

and refreshment to your bones.

Honor the LORD with your wealth

and with the firstfruits of all your produce

then your barns will be filled with plenty,

and your vats will be bursting with wine.

My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline

or be weary of his reproof,

for the LORD repoves him whom he loves,

as a father the son in whom he delights."

- Proverbs 3

"O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!" - Psalm 84:12

Good Morning!

What a beautiful morning!

"This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it."
- Psalm 118:23

I've never seen the green grass so pale!

Oh, the blinding light of the sun,

How much more glorious is He!

"...God is light..." - 1 John 1:5
"...Walk as children of light." - Ephesians 5:8

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

the LORD bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withold

from those who walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you!"
- Psalm 84:11-12

Hymn: I Know Not Why God's Wondrous Grace

I know not why God's wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

But "I know Whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I've committed
Unto Him against that day."

I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His word
Wrought peace within my heart.

I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing men of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him.

I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before His face I see.

I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noon-day fair,
Nor if I'll walk the vale with Him,
Or "meet Him in the air."

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'-yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'"
- James 4:13-15

"O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreaths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!"
- Psalm 39:4-5


YET,

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"
- Psalm 8:3-4

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"
- Romans 8:31-32


Time is a gift.
Life is a gift.
God is the Giver of them all.

"I want to encourage all believers to get into the habit of rising early to meet with God. How much time should be allowed for rest? No rule of universal application can be given because all persons do not require the same amount of sleep. Also the same persons, at different times, according to the strength or weakness of their body, may require more or less. Most doctors agree that healthy men do not require more than between six or seven hours of sleep, and females need no more than seven or eight hours.

Children of God should be careful not to allow themselves too little sleep since few men can do with less than six hours of sleep and still be well in body and mind. As a young man, before I went to the university,I went to bed regularly at ten and rose at four, studied hard, and was in good health. Since I have allowed myself only about seven hours, I have been much better in body and in nerves than when I slept eight or eight and a half hours in bed.

Someone may ask, "But why should I rise early?" To remain too long in bed is a waste of time. Wasting time is unbecoming a saint who is bought by the precious blood of Jesus. His time and all he has is to be used for the Lord. If we sleep more than is necessary for the refreshment of the body, it is wasting the time the Lord has entrusted us to be used for His glory, for our own benefit, and for the benefit of the saints and unbelievers around us.

Just as too much food injures the body, the same is true regarding sleep. Medical persons would readily agree that lying longer in bed than is necessary to strengthen the body actually weakens it.

It also injures the soul. Lying too long in bed not merely keeps us from giving the most precious part of the day to prayer and meditation, but this sloth leads also to many other evils. Anyone who spends one, two, or three hours in prayer and meditation before breakfast will soon discover the beneficial effect early rising has on the outward and inward man.

It may be said, "But how shall I set about rising early?" My advice is: Do not delay. Begin tomorrow. But do not depend on your own strength. You may have begun to rise early in the past but have given it up. If you depend on your own strength in this matter, it will come to nothing. In every good work, we must depend on the Lord. If anyone rises so that he may give the time which takes from sleep to prayer and meditation, let him be sure that Satan will try to put obstacles in the way.

Trust in the Lord for help. You will honor Him if you expect help from Him in this matter. Pray for help, expect help, and you will have it. In addition to this, go to bed early. If you stay up late, you cannot rise early. Let no pressure of engagements keep you from going habitually early to bed. If you fail in this, you neither can nor should get up early because your body requires rest.

Rise at once when you are awake. Remain not a minute longer in bed or else you are likely to fall asleep again. Do not be discouraged by feeling drowsy and tired from rising ealry. This will soon wear off. After a few days you will feel stronger and fresher than when you used to lie an hour or two longer than you needed. Always allow yourself the same hours for sleep. Make no change except on account of sickness."

- from The Autobiography of George Muller

Random Encouragements

Again, this is one of those many drafts that I had that I never published..

1. While I was volunteering at a hospital last year, an old grandpa would always come in for occupational therapy, along with a younger guy, who I assumed would be his son, on crutches. He always walked in with a big smile on his face, greeting all those around him and responding to a how are you with "I'm blessed!" At first I was a bit startled at this unusal answer to a habitual greeting, unable to reproduce quickly another moment-stopping reply but "that's good." About the third time I saw him, he threw me a piece of coin, on which had John 3:16 on it. Then I had the guts to tell him how encouraged I was, and he told me that he's a part of bikers for Christ, which I thought was funny/cute. Then later I saw that he talked to my supervisor and was able to bring in bunch of Bibles to put the onto the bookshelf for patients/visitors to read...



2. One day I had some minutes to kill before tutor started so stopped by a clothing store on the way. It's a Korean owned small boutique. No one was there but the owner and another worker. As I was browsing I couldn't help but listen to their conversation (it was loud and in Korean = it just comes to me). Anyhow, the owner was talking about how prayer freed her daughter from the stress of studying, and how she had to repent herself because of pushing her to the road of achievement or else... And goes onto the lives of people who go to church, and only live as chrisitans on Sunday, that there aren't too many that live out their christian lives. She said that neighbors aren't too far; her way of loving neighbors is praying for everyone who walks in the door of her store, whether they buy or not. That, knowing that I had been prayed for, was rather comforting? encouraging.



3. Again at the volunteer, there was an old patient who just had surgery on his head. He had not recovered fully from the surgery that his memory was failing him quite often. He was a Spanish speaker so with the little that I knew, I tried to have a conversation with him and soon got to assist an occupational therapist with his treatment, which at this time was to read. The patient wanted to read his bible, so someone brought it over and... it was just awesome to see how he prayed before reading the Word and that was what he desired to do: read and pray despite the cognitive difficulties he was experiencing..



4. I was reading the Bible in front of a Starbucks and this white lady with her family passed by. Then she comes back to say that it's good to see me reading the Word of God =) Made me want to read more and more and MORE! =D



5. Many more to come...