1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To God’s holy people in Ephesus,^[a] the faithful in Christ Jesus:

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he^[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship^[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he^[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Being called an apostle is really something. The meaning of a apostle is a messenger and ambassador. Messenger and Ambassador. Thats something. That means that Paul is a person who represents Christ and more than that, is a messenger of Christ. We are all apostles, ask ourselves are we messengers of Christ? Are we representing Christ? Ephesians is written in the context pf this place called Ephesus. This is an ancient Greek city,

He opens the book of Ephesians with praise, praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. "predestined us for adoption to sonship." It shows that God wants to take as as his children, not just adopted children but children through Jesus Christ. Jesus can choose to reveal to us His will in visions and dreams. His will is to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 

Job's Graduation

⁷ After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. ⁸ So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” ⁹ So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
¹⁰ After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. ¹¹ All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver^[a] and a gold ring.
¹² The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. ¹³ And he also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. ¹⁵ Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
¹⁶ After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. ¹⁷ And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

Job Graduates! Why do i say so? Because Job has passed the test! God put Job through a test and he passed! So, what is the result of his passing? Very good as seen from what God gave him. Job pleaded with God to take Him away, but did not once discredit God's justice. Sure, Job asked God to take Him away, to end the suffering. And Job totally do not understand why God did this.

You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
    Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me to know.

But he pressed on and did not sin and trust God. He did not do anything stupid. He did not curse God nor blame God. He had the God-i-dont-understand-why attitude not the its-all-your-fault attitude. There is a huge difference. I will talk more on it soon! :D Job is a very interesting character in the bible!

⁸ “Would you discredit my justice?
    Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
⁹ Do you have an arm like God’s,
    and can your voice thunder like his?
¹⁰ Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
    and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
¹¹ Unleash the fury of your wrath,
    look at all who are proud and bring them low,
¹² look at all who are proud and humble them,
    crush the wicked where they stand.
¹³ Bury them all in the dust together;
    shroud their faces in the grave.
¹⁴ Then I myself will admit to you
    that your own right hand can save you.

The Lord spoke the Job these! I just found these amazing. Firstly it is God who questions Job. God asks Job this question.: 
Would you discret my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

We really do that a lot. We live on this earth and a lot of things seem to be out of our control. We dont understand a lot of things. More over, we cannot see the big picture. We are limited by our human understanding and we can only comprehend the now. That is a huge limitation. Compare that to God who can comprehend everything. He see everything and can control everything. We are in some situation and we dont understand why, we try to justify ourselves, we try so hard to come out with our own version of reasoning. Like, I have already done this and that. We question God, we ask God of the reason why are we in this situation. We ask and question God. But do we condemn God to justify ourselves? We question him to the point of condemnation? We ask Him why are we in this situation? We question and blame God? We disobey Him? God is justice. There is no question about that! we know that is true but yet sometimes we go back and condemn Him. God describes His glory in the rest of the verses. Although mankind can achieve many things, but none can be compared with what God can do. Himself.

Christmas Bash

This Christmas Bash has been fun to produce, yet all the actors were filled with the spirit while producing it. For me, it was really my first ever time acting in any sort of drama. It went extremely well! I really want to thank God for all the help He have rendered to me! Before the show, I prayed to God asking God to pour His presence unto us, so that we can go and perform to our best! Thank God that he really poured His presence unto us while we are acting! I was quite worried that i would not act well because this was my first time acting, the character i am acting is the exact opposite from my personaility. But it is really great and encouraging that people told me that i acted really well! I am totally not expecting that! Thank God for everything He had done! :D

Is He not the one who governs justice?

¹⁶ “If you have understanding, hear this;
    listen to what I say.
¹⁷ Can someone who hates justice govern?
    Will you condemn the just and mighty One?
¹⁸ Is he not the One who says to kings, ‘You are worthless,’
    and to nobles, ‘You are wicked,’
¹⁹ who shows no partiality to princes
    and does not favor the rich over the poor,
    for they are all the work of his hands?
²⁰ They die in an instant, in the middle of the night;
    the people are shaken and they pass away;
    the mighty are removed without human hand.

 How could Job say God is unjust when we see Him governing justice? God was the one who administer justice to those who "think they are above the law", like kings and queens. He judged each with partiality. He does not favour the rich nor the poor. He is objective in his judgment. He removes people, judges people without us interfering. Neither can we interfere God's work. Our God is sovereign. If we know that is true, how can God be unjust in judging Job? God is impartial and He is good regardless of the situation. He is only wanted people to gain some spiritual benefit in the process, whatever the process is. In this case, it is Job going to another level in his relationship with God.

Who really understands Job?

² “Hear my words, you wise men;
    listen to me, you men of learning.
³ For the ear tests words
    as the tongue tastes food.
⁴ Let us discern for ourselves what is right;
    let us learn together what is good.

⁵ “Job says, ‘I am innocent,
    but God denies me justice.
⁶ Although I am right,
    I am considered a liar;
although I am guiltless,
    his arrow inflicts an incurable wound.’
⁷ Is there anyone like Job,
    who drinks scorn like water?
⁸ He keeps company with evildoers;
    he associates with the wicked.
⁹ For he says, ‘There is no profit
    in trying to please God.’

¹⁰ “So listen to me, you men of understanding.
    Far be it from God to do evil,
    from the Almighty to do wrong.
¹¹ He repays everyone for what they have done;
    he brings on them what their conduct deserves.
¹² It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,
    that the Almighty would pervert justice.
¹³ Who appointed him over the earth?
    Who put him in charge of the whole world?
¹⁴ If it were his intention
    and he withdrew his spirit^[a] and breath,
¹⁵ all humanity would perish together
    and mankind would return to the dust.

 Elihu really is doing something really unusual in that time. He not an elder, therefore considered not wise. Yet he is lecturing 3 older men and Job. That is considered outrageous in that time. It is equivalent to us going up to a professor and lecturing him on the things that he taught. That is outrageous. Yet, his words speak truth. so much truth. Elihu was teaching Job about God's heart and character. In any case and situation, God is still great, he does not pervert justice. From 

¹² It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,
    that the Almighty would pervert justice.

Means that God is just. He does not do something that is out of that nature. He will always deliver justice. Everything he does will always be in response to something we have done:
 
¹¹ He repays everyone for what they have done;
    he brings on them what their conduct deserves.

And based on that He will always judge us accordingly and do unto us on what we deserve. Why is that so? Because God is the creator of heaven and earth. 
 
¹³ Who appointed him over the earth?
    Who put him in charge of the whole world?
¹⁴ If it were his intention
    and he withdrew his spirit^[a] and breath,
¹⁵ all humanity would perish together
    and mankind would return to the dust.

That is the key. God can kill the whole of humanity in a breath if he will. So, God cannot pervert justice. He is justice. The things that happen to you are just. That is a fact. But why does it happen if it is just? That will be answered soon :D in the next verses. 

Suffering... Unlimited suffering.

¹⁹ “Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain
    with constant distress in their bones,
²⁰ so that their body finds food repulsive
    and their soul loathes the choicest meal.
²¹ Their flesh wastes away to nothing,
    and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.
²² They draw near to the pit,
    and their life to the messengers of death.^[c]
23 Yet if there is an angel at their side,
    a messenger, one out of a thousand,
    sent to tell them how to be upright,
²⁴ and he is gracious to that person and says to God,
    ‘Spare them from going down to the pit;
    I have found a ransom for them—
²⁵ let their flesh be renewed like a child’s;
    let them be restored as in the days of their youth’—
²⁶ then that person can pray to God and find favor with him,
    they will see God’s face and shout for joy;
    he will restore them to full well-being.
²⁷ And they will go to others and say,
    ‘I have sinned, I have perverted what is right,
    but I did not get what I deserved.
²⁸ God has delivered me from going down to the pit,
    and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.’
 ²⁹ “God does all these things to a person—
    twice, even three times—
³⁰ to turn them back from the pit,
    that the light of life may shine on them.

The passage above really speaks to me because we see here that this passage was said in the old testament, which means Jesus had not walked on this earth yet this passage says exactly the same thing as those passages in the new testament. people can experience pain, chastised in a bed of pain. So we ask why do we experience such pain? such suffering? Maybe some of us can reason that it is because of the sin in our lives. whether it is committed by us or by the generations before. people can take such suffering till the point of death. Then these people are told to make their life right with God. Some ransom has been paid for and they were renewed. They were saved from hell (God has delivered me from going down to the pit, and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.). God can do and allow pain and suffering to happen in someone's life just to make sure they understand that they need God and to summarize concisely:

God does all these things to a person—twice, even three times— to turn them back from the pit, that the light of life may shine on them.

So that their lives maybe saved. This was so so concise and epic. Everything happens for the good of Christ. Even though Jesus had not died on the cross but what this passage was preaching was the same and consistent with the new testament! God sent Jesus to be the offering, the ransom mentioned in verse 24. So that people can be delivered of their sins. So that people can receive eternal life not eternal damnation. 

Just to add on from the Life application Bible, Job already knew these things which was consistent with the things the Job mentioned previously and Elihu was accusing Job of not listening to God which was not true at all. Job was a Godly man.

Mission Trip to Philippines

Team 4:

Andy Chia
Jun Jie
Eric Han
Joseph Ng
Wei Hao
Hannah Lai
Kai Qin
Siew Yu
Faith
Xue Le

1 December

I am excited for the trip! This trip is going to have many different experiences but the purpose is the same, it is to serve one God! Regardless of the purpose, it is to do God's will. Especially in this trip, we are really uncertain about so many things! We do not know a lot of things, even the pastors do not know a lot, cannot plan ahead properly because of the lack of knowledge. We touched down safely in Cebu at 5.30pm. Brought down our stuff and all the boxes and solar panels. We were stuck in the customs! They did not allow so many boxes to go through customs. We prayed for God's help and He did let us go through without the necessary paperwork. We checked in to a nice villa and had a good dinner. The people here in Philippines have this problem of rubber time. Being on time here is not a priority. Our dinner took a long time to come, but I was grateful for the dinner. We closed the day on a high note! Excited and ready for the next few days and the things that we are going to do.

2 December

We had a great breakfast and after that we were ready to prepare for the skit. We were actually supposed to leave earlier at , but because of this so called rubber time, we were delayed for ferry at 5.30pm. We practiced the skit called "Reconciliation" for a good 2 hours. Frankly speaking, I think our team was not really prepared to do and perform the skits. I have been acting as "Adam" in the skit. The story is about the event that happened in Genesis 1, about God's creation: Adam and Eve. Its about Adam and Eve being tempted by the Devil and fell to sin. Then Jesus revealed his awesome plan to save the world through His own death. While I was going through the skit, I was thinking and praying about how can I relate to the people there. I have 2 'Eves', one of them is Hannah and the other Wan Jun. After which we left the nice villa and went to take the fast craft to Ormoc. I was praying on the fast craft that I can act out the role of Adam well and all the actors in the skit can portray a good play to touch the hearts of people there.  I even re-read Genesis 1-2 to get a feeling of Adam and the original story written in the bible. We reached Ormoc safely. Things were not as solid as we planned. I saw the destruction of that place for the very first time. The place was badly damaged by Yolanda. There were no lights on the streets. Food was not abundant. There were many people! And we saw many houses without roofs and damaged walls. I really felt the destruction first hand. I was already prepared to live in poor living conditions like the one that we saw. But when we reached the motel, we all prasie God for His provedience. It was like nothing we were expecting. There were lights and air conditioning. Though we all had to share the function room of the hotel, but we still had such great amenities! At least we had working electricity and had 2 toilets to work with! The building was standing and had no problems with its structure other than some damaged pieces of roof. Totally amazing place at ground zero.  Praise God for that! We had awesome dinner at a local restaurant and experienced rubber time for the first time. We waited for nearly an hour and a half for it to arrive and the place was not full! But the meal was good and filling. We had a good first night's rest and were excited for the next day ahead.

3 December

We woke up to a great breakfast. Has 2 sunny side ups, bread and ham. We really thank God for His providence. We were totally expecting to eat our energy bars already. Today we have a plan. We plan to go to this village, which they call it Baranggai here. We want to give out rice at this house church in a village! The plan was to distribute the collection tags in the afternoon and have them to come back and collect the rice at 3pm using the tags. So we gave out about 900 tickets. Our people were mostly in charge of the queuing outside the house church. I was in charge of the people at the end of the line, making sure they stay in a single file and start a new line if necessary. The crowd started pouring in, it was manageable. People came intermittently and we only had around 200 people at any point queuing. That was still manageable! I talked to the locals there. They were friendly and great! Even after the disaster, people can still put a smile on their faces. They kept thanking us, and some asked us where are we from. One lady even offered to shelter some of us under her umbrella while she was queuing. It was great! We gave out about a thousand tags. Running along side the tags giving operation, we also had some other team manning the "solar car" where solar panels were set up to charge the local's phones. The car looked ridiculous with solar panels ontop and having leaves attached to the sides to shelter people from sun. Then it was about 1pm and we went back to the motel to eat lunch. Lunch was great. We were preparing to head off again after some rest. We left the motel at 2.30pm and reached the house church again at 3pm. When we reached, we were totally not expecting what we were expecting next. We saw about a thousand people there. All standing around unorganized out side the church waiting for the rice to be distributed. The amount of people there was scary. One, it can turn into a stampede. Two, people can become rowdy and riot. Three, we have no idea how to manage these people. Totally no idea. We were discussing during lunch on how to make people queue up in batches of 50 to collect the rice. We had a plan and now that is clearly not going to work. One of the pastors in that area told us that it would be better to get the people into districts and then they will go through a name list and distribute the rice using the list. All the time the people doing security were praying. Praying that we would be safe and that things all will work out fine. If the people turned angry then we may really lose the situation. I was really praying for God to help us there. There were too many people and too little of us. We had trouble communicating to the people as we needed to organize them into districts and areas. That was really a challenge. But thank God we cleared the whole crowd in the end. We have people coming to us and thanking us for the rice and all. I was really happy after that. Happy that we came here a few thousand miles to came here to share the love of Christ. We were all really happy seeing all the smiles. Despite all the news in the world, and all the help that people pledged. We found out that for quite a number of people, this was their first time receiving aid, which was really surprising. I thought that aid had already reached there. We gave away about a thousand 4kg bags of rice and 3 thousand cans of sardines. That's a lot of food. But for a thousand its just sufficient. We had a tiring day at least for the guys, standing in the hot scorching sun shouting at people. But we learn to trust God, to trust that He will bring us through. It was tiring but spiritually filled. We were so happy that we are of help to the locals there. I was excited for the play! Excited but not nervous. We were having a night rally at a basketball court in the village. There was no stage per se but we just used the area in front of the audience as stage. The turn out was great. While the others were ushering, preparing the stage. We were preparing the skit, running through the final few practices before that actual run. Everything in the skit went well and the response from the audience was great. Praise God for that. We has alter call and many raised their hands to receive Jesus into their lives. Praise God! After which we had a healing session where each team is in charge of a chair where people who need healing just come forward and sit on that chair and we would pray for the person. I was astonished at the people there. It was like anyone who came into that chair and we prayed and the person was healed. Thank God for healing! Thank God for the weather. It did not rain! :D The stars were very beautiful and pretty, we cannot see this sight in Singapore.

4 December

We woke up to another great breakfast! Really thank God for that! :D Scrambled eggs! Really really thank God for the food. I really never thought that we would have such food! Really! Today we have a long day ahead! we are going to distribute more rice! We first went to visit the houses of the people who received Christ and healing at the rally yesterday. There were some issues! Our list was not with us. The translator(the pastor) was the one who wrote down the names and took the paper with him. So what we did was to consolidate the other teams names and split the people equally among the teams. So we went out with a list of names! We went out and started out to find the people. It was difficult to find the people as there were many houses and no system to identify the correct house! There was no address but only the name. So we had to ask around to find the correct person. It was quite difficult. After some time, we found the first house. We installed the solar panels and prayed with the family in that house. Andy went ahead to find the next house, so we got separated. When we were done, we were supposed to meet Andy at a specific meeting point. So when we were done we went back to that meeting point. But unfortunately, we could not find Andy there but only one of the other team. The other team was Melissa's team. We witnessed first hand on how good Melissa's teams were so good with kids. They could attract so many kids and beyond that were ministering and teaching these kids songs and knowledge. It was awesome witnessing that! For some reason that we do not yet know, our translator(also the pastor) appeared out of no where holding the piece of paper that listed all the names of the people we prayed for yesterday at the rally. So now, we can go ahead without Andy and can visit the people that we prayed for! Thank God! So we went and left some people behind to inform Andy just in case he came back that we recovered our list and are on our way to visit the people. We went to a few houses and blessed these people with the solar panels. It was awesome! Later when we were returning, we found out that it was really well planned by God! Andy was really busy talking to the people and really sharing Christ with this young man there. While that was happening, we had something to do because the pastor appeared suddenly with that list! It was really awesome! Praise God! Then we went to distribute rice at the school. The guys were responsible for the transportation of the rice while the girls and the younger guys were responsible for the giving out of rice. Andy was in charge of the distribution of the rice. It was very tiring carrying the rice. The rice sacks were heavy. Very heavy. The operation at the school went very orderly and organized. We even have soldiers from the Australian army and Philippine army to ensure that it sent smoothly. Later some of us stayed back at the school to set up solar panels while the rest went over to the next school to give rice. The setting of solar panels were all in a mess. There was a lot of miscommunication! We could not work out the exact number to give and they could not work out the exact number of solar panels they needed. However after some time we sorted everything out! In the process, some of us went over to the next school to set up solar panels. I also had the opportunity to really talk to and encourage a fellow mission tripper! He felt really discouraged at how little thing he could do. He felt really useless! I went over with another mission tripper to encourage him! We had a great chat him. I told him, whatever we do is not to compare with others. I cannot compare with what pastor did or what John did. Because every single person has their own role and their own purpose by God! And all we need to ask ourselves is whether we had tried our best. Whether we have done our best. Really! And then we prayed with him and brought our focus back to the night rally that we are going to have tonight. when we were finally done with the panels, the rest of the people came back from the other school and we all started to prepare for the night rally. I was one of the skit people and we went to practice the skit. All the other people knew their roles and did their roles amazingly. It started to drizzle and we really prayed against the rain and sure enough, God answered and it stopped raining and the skies cleared. While we were practicing and the time drew near to the actual performance, we were suddenly told that another team would be replacing us. Later we found out, it was pastor's idea to switch as we should give different people to try out acting the skit. Well, even though I was fired from the skit! I get to watch the skit! :D it was funny seeing other acting out the skit! Real funny! I was praying for the salvation of these people here while all these were happening! The time came for the healing session! We prayed for people and people were healed! There were many awesome praise reports! Later we packed up and went back for dinner. We were hungry and tired. Today was really tiring for all of us, but spiritually filled. So many things to thank God for!

5 December

Today was the last day we are going to be in Ormoc city. Today we would be taking the ferry back to Cebu. We set up solar panels at another 2 schools. We experienced the corrupted culture here! We were setting up the panels and the person in charge was telling us that there will be one given to the Captain for his personal use! That was ridiculous! Pastor immediately said that these solar panels are for the school and none will be given for personal use. And that was it. While we were setting up solar panels, we went into a class room where a teacher was teaching the class about Jesus Christ! That was pretty cool. :D we left that place and we went back to the house church to settle some repacking of the rice into proper sacks for accountability. The guys were doing the repacking while the girls went to play with the children. we also learn that instead of taking the ferry at 1pm we would be taking at 3pm instead because of some delays. We went back to the motel and went to pack up and get ready to leave. We left for the ferry, the journey took less than expected. It was faster than the journey to Ormoc surprisingly! When we reached Cebu, then I really saw and compared the difference in the level of destruction! Buildings here were all fine! Electricity was still working! We had sort of a "R&R" at a local shopping center called SM mall! We ate dinner and shopped there! I bought 2 computing books there! It was cheaper than in Singapore there! We checked in into the same villa that we stayed and rested well.

6 December

We woke up to the motel's breakfast and prepared for the flight back to Singapore. This trip has been a very different trip. A trip that we all relied on God, because we really have no clue on what to do and what to expect. this trip has too many things to thank God for! :D Amen and Amen! Singapore! :D

31 “I made a covenant with my eyes
    not to look lustfully at a young woman.
² For what is our lot from God above,
    our heritage from the Almighty on high?
³ Is it not ruin for the wicked,
    disaster for those who do wrong?
⁴ Does he not see my ways
    and count my every step?

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood
    or my foot has hurried after deceit—
⁶ let God weigh me in honest scales
    and he will know that I am blameless—
⁷ if my steps have turned from the path,
    if my heart has been led by my eyes,
    or if my hands have been defiled,
⁸ then may others eat what I have sown,
    and may my crops be uprooted.

 We sow but God gives, We may sow the seed but what causes it to grow is not us but God. Same thing for everything else. If we dont understand that, we will always be functioning on the "i can take on the world" thinking. Thinking that with unlimited hard work, we can get everything. But that is not true! God takes and God gives. In this passage, we see that everything we get and own is at God's expense, He can take away as He pleases. He gives as He pleases. Have you experienced working very hard but not receiving? Thats okay, as long as you have tried your best. God has a plan for you. Just take Job as a good example. He worked so hard but yet God took away everything. But is God evil? Would He withhold His blessings? This is a test. Trust God and walk out of the test victorious.

Job recollects

⁹ “And now those young men mock me in song;
    I have become a byword among them.
¹⁰ They detest me and keep their distance;
    they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
¹¹ Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,
    they throw off restraint in my presence.
¹² On my right the tribe^[c] attacks;
    they lay snares for my feet,
    they build their siege ramps against me.
¹³ They break up my road;
    they succeed in destroying me.
    ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
¹⁴ They advance as through a gaping breach;
    amid the ruins they come rolling in.
¹⁵ Terrors overwhelm me;
    my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
    my safety vanishes like a cloud.

Job's enemies overcome him. He was in a test. God driven test. As much as he have done nothing wrong to do this, in retrospect, we know that God was using Job to come out with yet another awesome testimony! God can be testing us. In a test, God's presence will be with us but will we prevail? Will we prevail with our strength or with strength from God? In many times we would just rely on our own strength and just go. But in these situations, God is a very important character in our lives. Without his presence, without his promises what can we do? What can we hang on to? Job may not have God's presence but he held on to God's promises. He held on to God's promises when his life hangs ion balance. when you are in tough times would you hang on yourself or hang onto his promises?

Job thinks about his past

29 Job continued his discourse:

² “How I long for the months gone by,
    for the days when God watched over me,
³ when his lamp shone on my head
    and by his light I walked through darkness!
⁴ Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,
    when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,
⁵ when the Almighty was still with me
    and my children were around me,
⁶ when my path was drenched with cream
    and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.

⁷ “When I went to the gate of the city
    and took my seat in the public square,
⁸ the young men saw me and stepped aside
    and the old men rose to their feet;
⁹ the chief men refrained from speaking
    and covered their mouths with their hands;
¹⁰ the voices of the nobles were hushed,
    and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
¹¹ Whoever heard me spoke well of me,
    and those who saw me commended me,
¹² because I rescued the poor who cried for help,
    and the fatherless who had none to assist them.
¹³ The one who was dying blessed me;
    I made the widow’s heart sing.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness as my clothing;
    justice was my robe and my turban.
¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy;
    I took up the case of the stranger.
¹⁷ I broke the fangs of the wicked
    and snatched the victims from their teeth.

¹⁸ “I thought, ‘I will die in my own house,
    my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
¹⁹ My roots will reach to the water,
    and the dew will lie all night on my branches.
²⁰ My glory will not fade;
    the bow will be ever new in my hand.’

²¹ “People listened to me expectantly,
    waiting in silence for my counsel.
²² After I had spoken, they spoke no more;
    my words fell gently on their ears.
²³ They waited for me as for showers
    and drank in my words as the spring rain.
²⁴ When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;
    the light of my face was precious to them.^[a]
25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;
    I dwelt as a king among his troops;
    I was like one who comforts mourners.

Job thinks about his past. He thinks about the times that he is blessed by God with material. He thinks about the times that he helps people and people gave him respect. People admire Him. He do good deeds and a lot of them. He talked about them here in extent. people are willing to listen to him. He had high social status. 
Well, we know that good deeds cannot save us, but only through our relationship with Jesus Christ right?? But he walked with God. He had a relationship with  Him. Spoke and prayed to Him. Then yet, he suffered.
Here we really learnt something. Our actions do not determine our circumstance. God determines our circumstance. God decides what to give and what to take. You may not understand what God is putting you through now, but one day you will. God is sovereign and he do whats best for you. In tough situations you got to just trust that.

A search for wisdom

28 There is a mine for silver
    and a place where gold is refined.
² Iron is taken from the earth,
    and copper is smelted from ore.
³ Mortals put an end to the darkness;
    they search out the farthest recesses
    for ore in the blackest darkness.
⁴ Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft,
    in places untouched by human feet;
    far from other people they dangle and sway.
⁵ The earth, from which food comes,
    is transformed below as by fire;
⁶ lapis lazuli comes from its rocks,
    and its dust contains nuggets of gold.
⁷ No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
    no falcon’s eye has seen it.
⁸ Proud beasts do not set foot on it,
    and no lion prowls there.
⁹ People assault the flinty rock with their hands
    and lay bare the roots of the mountains.
¹⁰ They tunnel through the rock;
    their eyes see all its treasures.
¹¹ They search^[a] the sources of the rivers
    and bring hidden things to light.

This passage is so true. We as a humanity search for wisdom, and we have been searching from the ancient times. like this passage states. Searching through wilderness... Today we think we have wisdom. But all we have is knowledge. We build large computer networks to store and parse data and index data. When ever we have some information needs we  just Google it. But how much is the information wisdom? Hardly. Wisdom is beyond information, beyond understanding.

²⁰ Where then does wisdom come from?
    Where does understanding dwell?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
    concealed even from the birds in the sky.
²² Destruction^[b] and Death say,
    “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”
²³ God understands the way to it
    and he alone knows where it dwells,
²⁴ for he views the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When he established the force of the wind
    and measured out the waters,
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain
    and a path for the thunderstorm,
²⁷ then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
    he confirmed it and tested it.
²⁸ And he said to the human race,
    “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
    and to shun evil is understanding.”

Wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Stop seeking wisdom from human sources. seek from God.

Paul's mission Trip

⁶ And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

⁷ To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul’s Longing to Visit Rome

⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. ⁹ God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ¹⁰ in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
¹¹ I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— ¹² that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. ¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,^[d] that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

Paul learnt tremendously, he switched from killing Christians to building a relationship with them! How different he became! He now believes that God is the Father and Jesus is the Son. And he is blessing others, Christians and Jews alike.  We see that Rome is just like the mission trips that we will be going. Going to another land to do God's work. The desire for Paul was great, his desire to come to fulfill the spiritual needs of the people in Rome. Then you ask, why does he have great desire? It is because he has the heart for people, the heartbeat of God. He spoke even more, he spoke about a harvest among the people in Rome. The harvest refers to a spiritual breakthrough.Besides the desire for people's heart, his home country was Rome and that was drawing him to come back. Something that is close to his heart. Moreover, he was leveraging on the fact that he was both a Jew and a Roman citizen to share the word. God may have bestowed upon us these privilege and it is our calling to use those talents to do God's work.

Because my Faith is in him.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34

This was really really timely for me. Recently I've been holding a few leadership positions in school for projects and I was really afraid I wouldn't be able to perform because it has been quite some time since I led people. Deadlines have to be met and everyone has their own stuff to do. Meeting up is hard.

Just like tomorrow. It's going to be a long day. Morning would be driving followed by rushing down to school for an eye check up. Afterwhich, would be a project meeting then training in the evening.

I was really worried that I would have to rush for everything and even my studies. Because I don't even have time for myself on weekends. This verse really reminded me who to trust and run to for help !

Romans 1

¹ PAUL ^[a]a ^[b][c]servant of JESUS Christ called to be an ^[d]Apostle, ^[e]put apart to preach the Gospel of God,

Paul, not SAUL a servant of Jesus. Saul called himself Paul instead of Paul because Saul was a name of a king and Paul was a name of nobody. He chose to use Paul, not Saul. He introduced himself as Paul! Servant of Jesus, calling them servants was a very huge step to humble themselves. He then calls himself Apostle. To preach the Gospel of God. 

² (Which he had promised afore by his Prophets in the holy Scriptures)

^3 [f]Concerning his ^[g]Son Jesus Christ our Lord (which was ^[h]made of the seed of David ^[i]according to the flesh,

⁴ And ^[j]declared ^[k]mightily to be the Son of God, touching the Spirit of sanctification by the resurrection from the dead)

^5 [l]By whom we have received ^[m]grace and Apostleship (that ^[n]obedience might be given unto the faith) for his name ^[o]among all the Gentiles,

Jesus was made of the linage of David, just as prophets prophesied before. We received grace and Apostleship for God's name. That which was reserved for Israel, became a gift for all of us, which is totally amazing. How can that be? How do we deserve that? We dont deserve them. But God gracefully gave them to us.

Do good because it is good!

¹³ Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats^[b]; do not be frightened.”^{[c] 15} But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. ¹⁹ After being made alive,^[d] he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— ²⁰ to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, ²¹ and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.^[e] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

There is power in doing good. God said, keep a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ  may be ashamed of their slander. I am in awe of this sentence: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. Christ died so that I the unrighteous can be saved can meet God one day and have a relationship with Him. Christ's job and calling was just to do that. I know that but when I read that verse i get a peek at God's love. Its the same thing as a person who wanted another person to live on and took on the death sentence himself, so that the unrighteous can live on. God is God. If a human want through the test, he would have failed terribly, because he would be concentrating on himself and himself only. Because God gave all of us the grace, that is why we can receive this amazing grace of salvation.

Trust. Please Our God.

John 14:1  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in me.”

This verse has been here for so long, used so many times but yet so applicable. Trust in the Lord, do not be troubled. There is nothing more blatant than this. Trust in the Lord. Just trust in the Lord! What does it take to trust the Lord? Trust the Lord.

John 14:27  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Lord, your peace is always in trend. I want to receive your peace! Your peace is good for me! The peace that the world gives are not appealing. The peace that the world give us is temporary. It only lasts for a while. It does not satisfy us, but your presence satisfy. Your presence settles. Your presence gives life. Your presence is so satisfying and calms. Your presence commands us. Lord i want to receive more of your love!

Isaiah 40: 30,31  “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Strength comes to those who find hope in the Lord. Strength comes first when we start to do God's will. Do we want to do God's will? Do we want to do God's will? Do we look to Him? Do we pick up the calls from the Lord? Or do we run away and answer our own calls? when we answer our own calls, then what happens? We just walk towards the Lord and sustain us on His strength.

Disasters, why?

Matthew 24:7
7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

In Matthew 24:7 it was said in the end times, famines and earthquakes will happen in various places.

Luke 21:25
25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

All these verses here suggest that when we see these signs we are nearing the end. It is only in these storms and trails that lead people out of their complacency and seek the Lord. So when disaster strikes, it is not that God commanded the natural disaster but he allowed that to happen. So that His glory can be testified and people can be brought to know Him.

Job understands

Job understood the heart of the father. He knew in this suffering, Lord is LORD over hid life. And He has a plan and a future for Him. He knows this but he did not act like he has, he complains. No, he did not blame or curse God, he cried out so deeply. He did not blame God and question His will but he just want to be rid of the suffering. The amount of suffering is too much for him. His conversations with his friends and him crying out to God took up 20+ chapters.

In the end, he was abandoned by his friends:

27 And Job continued his discourse:

² “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
    the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,
³ as long as I have life within me,
    the breath of God in my nostrils,
⁴ my lips will not say anything wicked,
    and my tongue will not utter lies.
⁵ I will never admit you are in the right;
    till I die, I will not deny my integrity.
⁶ I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it;
    my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.

⁷ “May my enemy be like the wicked,
    my adversary like the unjust!
⁸ For what hope have the godless when they are cut off,
    when God takes away their life?
⁹ Does God listen to their cry
    when distress comes upon them?
¹⁰ Will they find delight in the Almighty?
    Will they call on God at all times?

¹¹ “I will teach you about the power of God;
    the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.
¹² You have all seen this yourselves.
    Why then this meaningless talk?

¹³ “Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
    the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:
¹⁴ However many his children, their fate is the sword;
    his offspring will never have enough to eat.
¹⁵ The plague will bury those who survive him,
    and their widows will not weep for them.
¹⁶ Though he heaps up silver like dust
    and clothes like piles of clay,
¹⁷ what he lays up the righteous will wear,
    and the innocent will divide his silver.
¹⁸ The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon,
    like a hut made by a watchman.
¹⁹ He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
    when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood;
    a tempest snatches him away in the night.
²¹ The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;
    it sweeps him out of his place.
²² It hurls itself against him without mercy
    as he flees headlong from its power.
²³ It claps its hands in derision
    and hisses him out of his place.”

He still continues to claim his righteousness through his friends does not agree fully with that. Righteousness is not measured in Job's eyes, not his friends eyes, but God's eyes. Ultimately whatever we do is onto God. Everything. People can say things about you or about something that you did right or wrong, But ultimately, it is God's view that is important. Ask and seek the holy spirit, just like Job did. Job knew because holy spirit told him, he knew where was God's right and wrong. Most importantly Job knew God's heart.