12/26/08 Romans 12

When we think of Romans 12, first thing we think about is the living sacrifices. Within many churches, this chapter is very popular because it talks about how we can offer our bodies/lives as living sacrifice to God. However, this isn't the only portion in Romans 12. Paul talks about another thing within this chapter, and it is about love. Paul describes what love is and how to live our lives to have love. Paul mentions many things such as never to lack zeal, share with God's people who are in need, be joyful, etc... As I was reading through the verses, one verse really spoke to me.

Romans 12:14 - Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

This verse is such a simple and short verse, however, I believe we have hard time blessing people who persecute us. It is not easy blessing people who percutes us. I believe it is so easy for us to curse and gossip about just anything. In extreme cases, if someone is trying to take everything (even your life) away from you, would you be able to bless that person? I believe many of us doesn't even think about blessing someone who prosecute us. We think it is okay to gossip and curse if we don't like that person. This is just one example of how love lacks in our lives. I believe we should acknowledge that we need to forgive/bless everyone, even the people we hate.

12/25/08 Romans 11

As I was reading through Romans chapter 11, I read about story about branches and the root of the tree. Branch meant us as individuals in Christ and the root meant our God. One of the most interesting I read was that scripture said that you will see other branches broken off and it might cause us to believe we have received more previlleges than others. However, scripture clearly states that this isn't true, instead, the other branches were broken off due to their unbelief. Therefore, we shouldn't be arrogant, instead, we should be afraid because God's wraith can fall on us too.

Reading this scripture made me think about how we view our Christian lives. Do you ever think you are better than other people because you went to church longer than others? Do you think you have better faith than others because your in leadership team? Or do you think you are better because you were never fallen unlike other people? I think not. I believe we often think that we are better than others in our walks with God, I strongly encourge you to not to be arrogent and try to maintain your walk with God modestly.

12/24/08 Romans 10

Within our bible study, we had a discussion about joking (lying but not in a serious way) as sin or not. In our discussion some argued that joking is not considered as sin if you didn't really mean what you were saying. Some other people argued that whatever that comes out of your is what is in your heart, therefore, you have to try not to say these kinds of things. When we had this discussion, I don't think we ended up in definite answer.

As I was reading the scripture today, two verses caught my attention.

Roman 10:8-9 ; 8 But what does it say? The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is , the word of faith we are proclaiming. 9 That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I believe these verses talk about the strength of your word. It clearly states that your mouth is in your heart. Paul is trying portray that whatever we say, that is in our heart. Also, what comes out our mouth, such as confession as Paul mentioned, is very strong. I don't know for sure that I have interpret these verses correctly, but I believe this is what Paul is trying to say.

12/20/08 Romans 9

When we compare ourselves to others, it seems like some people are lucky because they have so many things. These things can be possessions or talents we possess. We often ask God to give us same kind of possessions or talents that we don't have. When we ask for these things, God doesn't always answer to our prayers. Does this means God favor specific individual with talents or possessions? Of course not, within Roman 9 states that God has prepared different plans for us. So we don't have to possess what others have, we only need what is needed for our God's plan.
Roman 9:11 - Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
Within this scripture, we can tell that everyone is not expected to receive exactly same things because God has different plans for us. When we ask God for something, we should double check that if that something is really needed for us to carry God's plan.

12/17/08 Romans 8

In Romans 8, Paul talks about is the life through spirit. Paul basically says that because Christ Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death, now we are able to live in accordance with the Spirit and the ways the Spirit desire us to live. We still possess sinful nature in us, however, we can overcome that sinful nature through Spirit of God we received.

When we encounter some of sins in our lives. We tend to think that some sins are impossible to overcome because we are human. Since we know we have born in sinful nature, and we possess these sinful natures within us, we simply say its impossible because we are not perfect. In these aspects, I agree on it too. I am only human. However, after reading this passage made me realize one thing. God has told us that we can overcome our sinful nature through the Spirit that Christ Jesus gave us. This shows how much faith we have in the Spirit. Through Spirit we can overcome any sinful nature, and if we fail its because we don't have enough faith in the Spirit of God. I realized that my previous answer (I am only human) is not good enough. These sinful natures might look impossible to overcome, but they are not impossible in the Spirit of God.

12/16/08 Romans 7

Someone once asked me a question. Someone asked me that if someone is trying to be Christians and fail to be Christian, wouldn't that make that person even more sinful then before? When I was asked that time, I could not answer that question. I knew the answer was no, but I couldn't give reason or why it is wrong.

When I was reading the Romans 7, the scripture answered that question. In the passage, Paul talks about the law as the indicator for commitment of sin or not. Then Paul asks us if good (knowing the law) brought sin to our lives?
Romasn 7:13 - Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Within the scripture, I portrayed the "good" as being Christian. Therefore, Paul clearly states that good showed a way to recognize the sin that was hidden. Through the goods, sin has became shown and clear.

I am very happy that I have the definite answer to this question. Now I can back my answer with scriptures. When I'm asked with that question later on, I will be able to answer it.

12/15/08 Roamans 6

In Romans 6, Paul brings up interesting concept. Paul talks about being slaves to righteousness. Before God has saved us through Jesus Christ, we were slaves to sin. However, through God's grace, we have became slaves to righteousness. Paul points out that when you become slaves to righteousness, you will be free from sin and you will be able to carry out holyness in your life. For the wages of sins is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

12/13/08 Romans 5

In Romans 5, Paul talks about two things. One things is about the happiness and the joy of knowing God and being saved. Then Paul talks the depth of gift (Salvation) we received. Paul compare with the sins Adam committed and the death of our Jesus Christ. Paul states that Jesus Christ's death overrides everything.

As reading through the passage, one word grabbed my attention. In the beginning of the passage, Paul talked about concept of hope. This grabbed my attention because our small group bible study was talking about hope just yesterday. In our discussion, we said that trust is 100% and hope isn't 100%. Scripture reads that
5:3 - Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, ecause we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 - perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 - and hope does not disappoints us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
I think alot of us were confused when we were talking about the concept of hope in the bible study. I feel like we didn't look at the definition of hope in God's point of view. Instead, we used word hope to create our definition related the word hope into anything. In the scripture, it clearly talks about the hope as the God redeeming us back. Therefore, I believe based off from the scripture, hope of God not shaming on us is 100%.

12/11/08 Romans 4

In Romans 4, Paul talks about the faith by Abraham. Abraham faith show us two things. One thing is that what we received from God (salvation) is a gift. The other thing Abraham's faith show is that the relationship between God and us is through faith not by physical attributes. For example, Paul brings up circumcision, Romans 4 tells us that being circumcised doesn't mean you built up relationship with God, Abraham circumcised because he establish his faith between him and God.

Faith is the most important thing when building our relationship with us and God. All kinds of traditions or physical attributes are important but not essential when we are building our relationship with God.

12/10/08 Romans 3

Romans 3 talks about three aspects of righteousness. These aspects are the righteousness of God, the righteousness of us, and the righteousness through faith. Romans 3 first start off with the rightenousness of God. Scripture says that God is clearly righteous and if you don't realize God is rightenous then that is because of our unrighteousnesses. Next aspect Pual talks about is the rightenousness of ourselves. Paul says that no one is righteous among ourselves, not even one. Then lastly Paul talks about the righteousness through faith. Even though we are unrighteous and unworth, God has given us a righteousness that is from God. This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ only. Scripture says that all of us have sinned, therefore, we can come to God's glory. However, whoever believes in Christ Jesus, we will be able to receive God's righteousness.

We received a very valuable gift from God. Even though this gift is something we cannot afford, this gift was given free, without any costs. So I believe that we should be always thankful and greatful that we received this gift from God.

12/9/08 Romans 2

In Romans 2 talks about an interesting concept about judgement. Romans 2 states that we are not worthy of judging other people. We are just a mere imperfect man and we are not worthy of judging other people. Romans 2 indicates that we received riches of his kinds, tolerances, and patiences from God, however, we are not able to give what we received to others.

After reading this portion of Romans 2, it reminded me one story Jesus mentioned. I can't remember where this story was from but I remember the parable.
Story started as there was a man who had great amount of debt by the King. One day, King calls on man and told him that King will take off all his debt for free. The man went home being very happy because he was free from great debt. However, that man ran into one of his slave who owed little amount of money from him. That man tortured the slave and asked for his money back. One of King's servant saw this incident and reported to King. King became very angry and punished the man.
We are very imperfect creatures and we received so many unworthy things from God. One of unworthy thing we recieved was the forgiveness of our flaws. However, we are so busy picking out other people's flaws when our flaws were forgiven by God. Others' flaws will be judged by God, not us.

12/8/08 Romans 1

After finishing book of Ephesians, I was looking for next book I could read.  As I was searching through the bible, book Romans came up to my mind.  I think this happened because I am currently learning about the Roman Empire in my history class.  I learned general environment and what were going on through Roman history.  Also, I remember that we talked about Jesus in class too.  Since I am aware of some backgrounds, I decided to read the book of Romans which is a letter sent from Apostle Paul to saints in Rome.

In Romans 1, Paul basically talks about two things.  However, one thing grabs my attention as I was reading through the chapter.  Paul wrote about why he wanted to visit Rome and felt obligated to write to Rome.  In the scripture, Paul says that he is obligated to talk about gospel to Greeks, non-Greeks, wise people, or foolish people.  Also, Paul says that he is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.  

Reading these scripture reminded me that there are many people who thinks church is only for the holy people.  Also, these people expect holiness from the church people.  However, these people doesn't realize that church isn't for holy people.  Church is where people who aren't perfect to come together and learn about the Gospel and Christ.  Gospel is for everyone on this Earth.  The Gospel isn't limited to people who are holy or smart.  Gospel is the way for ourselves to create personal relationship with our God.

12/7/08 Ephesians 6

Ephesians 6 is the last chapter of Ephesians. Ephesians 6 start off by talking about the concept of obeying. Then Ephesians 6 concludes the whole book by talking about armor of God. Pauls says that we received many things that will protect us from satan. For example, we received belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with the readiness, shield of faith, shield helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit through the word of God.

As I was reading the scriprture, the analogy with types of armors and the gifts we received by God was very interesting. We received these armors that are very effective and useful, and by using these armors effectively, there are no problems. However, it seems like we are not able to use these armors properly in our daily lives. People say they are suffering throughout their lives so much. If we are suffering through the world, why aren't we using these amazing resources we already possess? I believe we need to equip these resources and put it into good use by having desire to know and learn about God more.

12/6/08 Ephesians 5

Ephesians 5 mainly talks about the being immitators of God. Within Ephesians 5 Paul bring up couple of examples. Examples such as sexual immorality, impurity, greed, and thanksgiving. Also, Paul mentions about that we were in darkness, but after we accepted Christ, we became the light.

After reading Ephesians 5, one thing spoke in my heart. I realized that we received tremendous amount of strength and power by knowing Christ. Paul says that we were in the darkness and we became the light. Since we are light, we received great strength and power. We received these powers because we are the light and we can overpower the darkness (Satan) under Jesus Christ. Ephesians says that where everything exposed by the light, it is impossible for any darkness to be there because light overwhelms the darkness. This is the one of passage where God has told us that we can win against satan because we are much stronger than Satan under God. This passage brings great joy in my heart, there is nothing stronger than us, we should be confident because we're with God.

12/5/08 Ephesians 4

One of interesting thing Ephesian 4 mention is that forming a unity is very crucial. Within the passage, unitity as properly being able to follow God's footstep. Basically when we stumble, we fail to achieve unity. Scripture says that us individuals have given different kinds of grace. Even though we were given different kinds of grace, we are able to achieve unity because when we come togethers, we support each others as a whole body.

When we look at our relationships, usually everyone has some problems. Since each of us are very different from another, we tend to have people who we get along well with and people who we don't get along well with. When we don't get along with people, it is because we're so different compared to them. However, scripture says that even though we are very different, when we come together as a whole, these differences work together to achieve unity. I believe we should take off all our stereotypes and come together as brothers and sisters under Jesus Christ.

12/3/08 Ephesians 3

In Ephesians 3, Paul explains about himself to the churches of Ephesus. After explaining about himself, Paul gives prayer to the churches of Ephesians. In his prayer, Paul prays that God will strengthen us with power through God's spirit. Then prays that Christ would remain in our heart, and finally prays about the joy of knowing God.

This passage is very encouraging to me. It seems like people back in the day had same kind of prayer needs like us because Paul's prayers hits the core aspects of my life. Receiving proper strength from God, continuing to maintain the faith, and knowing the joy is something we struggle in our everyday life.

12/2/08 Ephesians 2

Throughout the Ephesians chapter 2, one verse caught my attention.
Ephesians 2:8 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works.

The passage talks about being saved again. This passage greatly speaks to me. The fact that we were able to receive "God's Grace" is something spectacular. We do not deserve "God's Grace" and we are totally unworthy. However, my God's kindess, forgiving, and uncomparable love, God has given us salvation. Passage clearly states that this is the gift from God and it was given unconditionaly. This passage is a great news, we have received something called salvation that we don't deserve. Looking at what God has given me, I wondered what I am giving to God. I realized that I should try to give more to God since I'm not giving much, I was born to glorify God's name after all.

12/1/08 Ephesians 1

Ephesians 1 talks about the spiritual blessing we received through Christ. These spiritual blessings mainly talks about how God chose us and how he is watching over us. Also, Ephesians 1 talks about how God have planned everything in accordance of his plan.

After reading this chapter, it reminded how blessed I am. I am blessed enough to know who Jesus Christ is and I also accepted Jesus Christ as our savior. I hardly think about how thankful I am to be saved.

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