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New Creation

These last couple of days Satan has been throwing a lot of my past on me. I've been waking up ashamed and regretful, feeling really unworthy to do God's work. BUT, God always gains the victory. I was reminded of the verse 2 Corinthians 5:17:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

As I was studying this verse out and using my cross references I was brought to Romans 6:3-10

"Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God."

The beautiful promise of being able to walk in the newness of life with Christ! I no longer need to worry about my past. Satan's threats cannot stop me from doing the work that God has laid out for me. When Christ was crucified on the cross, He was crucified with my sins, your sins. Its been done away with. Are you walking in the newness of life with Christ? If you haven't yet, I challenge you to give your life to God, forget the sins you've committed and know that you can be a new creation in God!

Love and Blessings. 

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What's your desire?

I've been reading a beautiful book called Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing. This by far has been one of my favorite books because it basically goes verse by verse on Jesus' sermon on the mount in the book of Matthew and really makes it practical and applicable to our daily lives.

In my devotional the other day, I read over the section on Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." As I've studied this verse before, I thought I knew the gist of what I was going to read. That it's asking for the Holy Spirit, seeking for the Holy Spirit, and allowing the Holy Spirit to come into your life. Then I was brought to the verse: 1 Corinthians 8:2  And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

Background story: I've been canvassing now for 2 and a half years basically non-stop. If you've been a canvasser for more than 10 weeks, you start to get callused to God's blessings that if a first timer were to have these kinds of experiences, they would go bouncing off the walls. I myself can say that over these 2 and a half years, I've always been expecting and praising God for those "big" "wow" or "amazing" experiences. Of course God wants us to expect great things from Him, but I started to forget the "little" blessings God has done for me. Not really praising Him for the "little" experience that just happened. Sadly, this is what it has come down to.  

Being super vulnerable, for these last couple weeks as I've been doing ministry for God, I found myself just asking-- asking God and expecting big things. In my devotionals, I thought I had the seeking part down. I was seeking for God, but it wasn't deep seeking that God was calling me to do. I came across a 7 word quote:

"Desire not merely His blessing, but Himself" 

And it dawned on me: for these last couple of weeks I've been only desiring God's blessings and not Him. I got too comfortable where I was with my walk with Christ and I stopped desiring for a deeper relationship with God. God was asking me to have a deeper relationship with Him!

God totally wants us to ask and expect big things from Him, but most importantly, before asking, how is your relationship with God? Is it merely just asking and not seeking after a deeper relationship? I know for me, it was just an asking relationship, but I'm thankful God loves us so much that He desires to have a relationship with us. And not just a friendship relationship, but deeper than that, more intimate than that. I encourage you to continue to strive for a deeper relationship with God. Don't get too comfortable with where you're at. Desire God and with that, blessings will come your way, big and small. 

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Indiana!

It has been a long while, but here's a little update to where God has lead me! 

This summer I'll be spending it in Indiana. Its been day 4 of our Youth Rush program and I've had a privilege to lead out a colporteur team! Many of our students are first timers, which has truly inspired me. Watching the kids study their canvass hard and seeing that they have questions about the Bible is like watching me when I first started. They basically bring me to my first love. It helps me to just realize how far God has brought me. So far it has been a great experience. My prayer for the summer is for my relationship with God will continue to grow stronger and that my student's relationship with Him will too grow. I don't want to write too much, but a here a just a few photos! Enjoi. 

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For God so Loved the World

Many people know of the verse John 3:16. You see it on In-n-Out items, Forever 21 bags, etc. But, I was reading "The Story of Redemption" by Ellen White and it brought a much more deeper meaning. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." There's this quote that I read from "The History of Redemption" it says: "He (Jesus) is in close converse with His Father. The anxiety of the angels seemed to be intense while Jesus was communing with His Father. Three times He was shut in by the glorious light about the Father, and the third time He came out from the Father, His person could be seen. His countenance was calm, free from all perplexity and doubt, and shone with benevolence and loveliness, such as words cannot express." THREE times Jesus pleaded with His Father. He asked to be the living sacrifice. His Father didn't just send Him, but He asked.. THREE times! The quote goes on: (Jesus speaking to the angels) "He told them that He had been pleading with His Father, and had offered to give His life a ransom, to take the sentence of death upon Himself, that through Him man might find pardon; that through the merits of His blood, and obedience to the law of God, they could have the favor of God and be brought into the beautiful garden and eat of the fruit of the tree of life." That itself is just a beautiful thought. This shows me that God has this sacrificing love for us! We have a Father that thinks we are to die for. It doesn't just end there, but my favorite quote from the chapter is this: “Think ye that the Father yielded up His dearly beloved Son without a struggle? No, no. It was even a struggle with the God of heaven, whether to let guilty man perish, or to give His beloved Son to die for him.” It hurt for God to let go of His Son. Jesus loves us so much that He left His golden crown for a crown of thorns. He went through the cross to save us. And not just that, God loves us so much that He let His Son go to save the world! WHAT LOVE IS THIS?! I don't know about you guys, but my love cup is overflowing with these thoughts So next time you see or hear John 3:16, think about how much love and thought our Father put in to save us who are unworthy. May you, the reader, be blessed!

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Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior

Did you know that behind the SDA Hymnal it has a section called “scriptural allusions in hymns”?! I was recently informed of this! It gives the hymn number and verses that go along with the hymnal. I looked up one of my favorite hymns, “Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior” and it brought me to the story of the blind man found in Luke 18. I put myself in the position of the blind man. Maybe I’m not physically blind, but I’ve been feeling spiritually blind. I’ve been feeling like the blind man and yelling for God to help revive my life, asking Him to hear my humble cry. The hymnal then took me to Psalm 73:25,26 “… And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of m heart and my portion forever.” I desire Jesus and only Him, but because I’ve been feeling spiritually blind, I felt my heart and flesh were failing.

It was just super powerful reading this especially just going through a spiritual drought. It’s amazing how God uses even hymnals to speak to us!

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Health Advice

These last 3 days I’ve been pretty sick. On my 14hr road trip to Arizona, I caught some kind of sickness. Body was weak, nauseous, headache, everything was just bad. Now, when sick, I like to figure out how and why I got sick so I can prevent it next time. Let’s see, last week was our spring break… Of course, big mistake on my part, SLEEPING LATE. Also, my sugar & dairy intake was on a high. (eating at a few of my favorite spots in San Jose, plus I’m mostly vegan.) So now that I’ve figured out the problem, here is what I did to make myself feel better in just 3 days.

1. REST Rest is very, VERY important. From about 9:30pm-1:30am, that’s when your body restores itself. If you’re not getting proper rest, your body then cannot fully recover from your days work. All Friday & Saturday morning I slept. Who doesn’t like sleep anyway?

2. WATER I drank PLENTY of water. Drinking water is like an internal shower. It gets rid of wastes in our body. Drinking a sufficient amount of water will help eliminate body oder, bad breath, etc.

3. HYDROTHERAPY I did a hot & cold shower every night before going to bed. 3 minutes on hot (as hot as you can) & 1 minute on cold (as cold as you can). Do 3 sets of those as you do your regular shower routine. Once your done with your shower, don’t forget to bundle up! Beanie, sweaters, sweats, socks… Anything you can use to keep yourself warm. Even when you go to bed. Make sure you’re all bundled up with blankets!

& last, but not least 4. PRAYER! Prayer is essential. God is the greatest physician and knows our body so much more than we do. He’s the one that created our body! Allow Him to do the restoring for you.

These are 4 easy steps you can follow if you’ve been feeling like you’re coming down with something. What I love about these steps is that it requires no money! It’s all free! (unless you have to buy water bottles) No spending money on medication or anything. Everything free. I hope this little health advice will be helpful!

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Ahhhh! I apologize for not posting anything recently. I've just been super busy! Our ten week health practicum ended, then Spring break happened, and now I'm back at school in Arizona! 

These next couple of weeks I will try my best to stay faithful in posting something at least every Wednesday. I hope everyone has been doing well! God Bless!

"Do not be afraid... I am your shield..." Genesis 15:1

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A Devotional Thought

A couple days ago, I found myself pleading with God and asking Him for discernment. At that moment, I felt like God was not found. I prayed for Him to make a miracle in that situation, but nothing happened... Now lets go back to before I came down to that point...

I was ready to work, go out into the field, and hit my financial goal. I was basically money motivated that day. The day was starting well. I thought to myself, "I'm reaching my goal in no time." With the goal constantly on my mind, everything shifted. Lets just say nothing was going my way... That's when I found myself pleading with God. Asking for signs to show me what to do or how to become better so that I can reach this goal. As the night ended, I told myself that tomorrow is another day. As "tomorrow" came, I went into the field, again money motivated. Lo, behold, the same outcome had happened. I found myself pleading, again. I was frustrated, but I knew that that kind of attitude wasn't going to get me anywhere. So I started seeking for council. I called my dear good friend and teacher, Anthony. He basically told me to forget the goal. Pray for it once today and just forget about it. He told me to never forget the real reason why I'm out doing this work (To share Jesus). & he reminded me to just have fun. After I did the above, I truly started having fun and amazing things started happening (You can see my last experiences post to read about those amazing things) When that day was over and I thanked God for bringing be through a tough time. The next morning I did my devotionals and well, this is what I read:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose" Romans 8:28

The fact that we are called upon to endure trial shows that the Lord Jesus sees in us something precious which He desires to develop. If He saw in us nothing whereby He might glorify His name, He would not spend time in refining us. He does not cast worthless stones into His furnace. It is valuable ore that He refines. {FLB 64.2} God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as co-workers with Him. {FLB 64.3} 

Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us of which we know nothing. Those who accept the one principle of making the service of God supreme, will find perplexities vanish and a plain path before their feet. {FLB 64.6} As a little child, trust to the guidance of Him who will "keep the feet of his saints." 1 Samuel 2:9. {FLB 64.7} As we commit our ways to Him, He will direct our steps.

This devotional spoke to me. I was rejoicing about the trials because this devotional had reminded me that God is refining me and strengthening me. Even through trials, God was helping me to exercise my faith, to have more trust in Him. And not only was this devotional was on point, this morning's devotional continued on to what God wanted me to learn during that time.

"Ambition brings sorrow" was the title of that chapter.... When I first read it, I was kind of confused... I looked up the definition for "ambition". It says: a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. I thought, well, what could be so wrong about that? So I read the Bible text that went with it.. "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22." Just this verse alone lit the light bulb in my brain. The ambition I had was self motivated ambition. I wanted to go out and share Christ through literature with money on my mind and basically to gain for myself. Not thinking about the precious souls at the door. My self ambition brought sorrow. If we allow God to use us according to His will and not our own, He will make us rich and with this richness, we gain pure joy. Okay, I'm not talking about rich with money, but I am talking about rich in love, rich in God. There is no amount of money that can satisfy the heart, but only the love of God can give us pure joy.

I hope this devotional thought was a blessing to you! & don't forget to share Christ! =D

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Experiences

It's time for experiences time!!! Yaaaay! God is amazing! This afternoon I met Natalie. Cutest little girl EVER! I actually met her at her babysitter's house. I was showing her kids books & once she saw "The Prince of Peace" (Covers the life of Jesus from the Christmas story to the Easter story) her face just lit up! She told me that she had never seen any books about Jesus before and she wanted to read all about Him! Because she was at her babysitter's house, she tried her best to explain where she lived and described her door to me. God is sooo good! After lunch, I found her home! I met her dad and they couldn't afford to get anything, but Natalie kept on saying how much she really liked the book. I then told her that as long as she would read it and share with her sister, I'll give the book to them as a gift! Her face lit up and I signed the book in the inside for her. Such a beautiful experience! I absolutely love when kids have an interest in Jesus at a young age! I pray that the book will help Natalie and her sister get to know Jesus and how wonderful He is!

Whoever said canvassing was boring? Psssshhhh. As I was going door to door, I noticed these two boys following me with their toy guns. I ended up pretending I was getting shot by them and so they quickly became my friends. Lol. They asked me what I was doing and told them I was sharing books. They then led me to their homes and had me talk to their parents. One of the boy's dad ended up giving me a donation and getting a book for their son! These kids truly made my day absolutely fun!

AND, my last experience, I met Donna. A mother of a 9 year old boy who loves reading. I wish I can get into great detail with this one, but that would be waaaaaay too long. Basically shared each other's testimonies and told me about her current situation with her son. The father of her son is Muslim while she's Christian. She allows her son to have a choice of religion, but does the best she can to help him get to know who Jesus is. I shared with her all the books I had and she ended up getting The Great Controversy for him! (If you've read the GC, you'd know how excited I am for this kid. Haha). Before I left, I was blessed with a beautiful prayer from Donna. I was so thankful to have met this wonderful daughter of God! The canvassing work is such a blessing. Not only do I get to reach out to others, but these people have truly helped me strengthen my relationship with God. Today, I've learned to have more faith in God & He also had to remind me to just put away my own needs while doing this work, to "let go & let God". When doing service for the Lord, allow Him to do all the work. Don't worry about certain goals or numbers, but let God do His thing and just have fun! When you let God do the work, guarantee that the goal or the numbers you have set for yourself will be taken care of!

"Cast your cares on the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." Psalms 55:22

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Amen sister! Keep pushing and working hard for the Lord! Jesus is coming soon =D

This sister had inspired me to gets a blog by reading her awesome blog you should go follow her….. http://sherringchrist.tumblr.com

and reading her experience on how she been bless that day, made me realize how bless i am to be with the lord, cause being in souls make you clearly see how god is always blessing with divine appointments, answer to prayers , and made me see a different perspective of the word of god. 

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Last night, My brother Eric Isaia & I did a study on what it means to fear God. (Okay, so he gave the study to me, Lol.) After the study, he encouraged me to read about Calvary from the Desire of Ages. (Which I only have about a few more chapters to read, then I'm done!) For my Devotionals I was brought to the scene of the cross... So many emotions went on as I was reading through Matthew 27:32-53. Sadness mostly, but then as I really thought deeper, He went through this for me... When I was done reading the passage from the Bible, I turned to the chapter of the Desire of Ages, chapter 77. Now here are some quotes that really hit me hard and just realizing how forgiving and merciful God is. The Saviour made no murmur of complaint. His face remained calm and serene, but great drops of sweat stood upon His brow. There was no pitying hand to wipe the death dew from His face, nor words of sympathy and unchanging fidelity to stay His human heart. While the soldiers were doing their fearful work, Jesus prayed for His enemies, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” His mind passed from His own suffering to the sin of His persecutors, and the terrible retribution that would be theirs. No curses were called down upon the soldiers who were handling Him so roughly. No vengeance was invoked upon the priests and rulers, who were gloating over the accomplishment of their purpose. Christ pitied them in their ignorance and guilt. He breathed only a plea for their forgiveness,—“for they know not what they do.” – {DA 744.2} That prayer of Christ for His enemies embraced the world. It took in every sinner that had lived or should live, from the beginning of the world to the end of time. Upon all rests the guilt of crucifying the Son of God. To all, forgiveness is freely offered. “Whosoever will” may have peace with God, and inherit eternal life. – {DA 745.1} Jesus was asking for forgiveness for all who were mocking Him, spitting at Him, crucifying Him. Not one bit of hate was in Jesus' heart. It just blows my mind that forgiveness was asked and it didn't require for people to do A, B, & C to have it. It says "To all, forgiveness is freely offered. 'Whosoever will' may have peace with God, & inherit eternal life." HOW LOVING IS OUR LORD!!!!! What some people tend to miss is truly understanding God's character. Today, I encourage you to read about the crucifixion of Christ. God's character is displayed all over that story. And not only read about it, but display in your life so that others may see it. Do people really see Jesus in you? Are you sharing Christ w/ others just by the way you act? Let us Christians be more like Jesus by showing forgiveness and love. The more we share Jesus, the sooner the 2nd coming of Christ shall be.

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As the week ends, here are a few pictures that were taken throughout the week (=

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As most of you know I do a lot of literature evangelism. (If you don’t know, I go door to door with Christian literature) I’m trying to explain this as best as I can sooo…. These last couple of weeks we’ve been focusing more on health evangelism and being trained by doctors from Loma Linda University to become a certified lifestyle coach. BUT, yesterday I did the regular door to door literature evangelism and had some awesome experiences!

Yesterday was just an awesome day! (I like to call it a spiritually high awesome day.) I got to pray with many families who were struggling with so much. There was even one incident where I just heard cursing and screaming across the street from me and I decided to pray for that home. It’s amazing how powerful prayer is because little by little, the screaming and everything slowly went away… To a point where I heard zero yelling coming from the home! AMAZING.

Another experience was that I met Heather. She wasn’t going to open her door, but as soon as I said that we were Christian students, she flung the door open. After drilling me with a whole bunch of questions, she finally gave me the chance to speak and explain myself. She reads her Bible “religiously” as she calls it and tries her best to stay in constant communion with God. I told her that I was attending a Bible college and she said I was “living her dream” of attending such a school. Since I am reading the Great Controversy, I shared with her information on the book and immediately was super interested. She gave a donation and before I left we said a word of prayer. I pray that book would be of good use and will help here have an even stronger relationship with Christ.

A few houses down I met this young Christian family who actually had a fever or cold going around the home. If you recall in the beginning of my post we’ve been getting trained by doctors from Loma Linda University and I was able to share some things on how they can get rid of their sickness and food they should stay away from while being sick (or even just food we should stay away from in general). They were interested in the information I was giving them and started to become interested in myself. They started asking what was my personal testimony and were glad I allowed God take over my life. They asked for more health advice before I left and I also got to pray with them!

What I absolutely love about this health practicum is that not only do we share Jesus door to door, but we can even give advice to families who are struggling with health. And not just any health advice, but health advice that God has intended for His people to use. All these prescribed medicines isn’t what God had planned for our bodies to use, but FOOD (the right natural foods) is our medicine. And of course, water! (= Whether it may be drinking water or doing hydrotherapy to help the sickness go away.

I’m truly blessed in being able to do this work and catering to others with the help of God! It’s not only helped others, but it has really helped me in growing and trusting in Jesus in all that I do. I encourage you all to try to do the same! Share Jesus with someone random today and trust that He will take care of your worries!

"Trust in The Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5,6

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So not too long ago, I decided to start reading The Great Controversy. For those of you who have not read or heard of The Great Controversy, it covers the last 2,000 years of church history and shows how the prophecies of the Bible have been fulfilling. It shows how men and women stood up for freedom. It also deals with questions like, “Why would an all loving and all powerful God allow so much pain and suffering” or “Why hasn’t Jesus returned yet?” And “How can I be ready for Him when He comes back.” It ends with a glorious climax of the second coming of Jesus!

I really wanted to be knowledgeable of the history of Christianity and read about men and women who sacrificed their lives just so that we, today, can have a Bible in our hands. As I did my Devotionals in my car, here is a quote that stood out to me:

"The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the foundation of His government in heaven and earth." The Great Controversy pg. 22

It says that the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God. So what is God’s law? In Exodus 20, the 10 commandments were stated. The commandments have been there from the beginning and even till today. Cain killed his brother and the 10 commandments weren’t on stone then, but it was still a part of God’s law that we should not kill. Today, you wouldn’t kill someone, would you? Or commit adultery… If there were no law then there would be no sin (1 John 3:4). As Christians, we need to all understand the law of God and not be blinded just like the Jews were with Jesus. Today, I encourage you to study out God’s law and really meditate upon them.

"Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." Psalm 119: 11

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“Look for yourself and you will find loneliness and despair. But look for Christ and you will find Him and everything else.”

— C.S. Lewis

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I'm on a mission to spread the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

Devotional thought:

"When the Holy Spirit is abiding in the heart, it will lead the human agent to see his own defects of character, to pity the weakness of others, to forgive as he wishes to be forgiven. He will be pitiful, courteous, Christlike. The Holy Spirit imparts love, joy, peace, strength, and consolation; it is as a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. The blessing is free to all." The Faith I Live By pg. 53

This morning, I encourage you to pray and let God take over. I guarantee that when you let the Holy Spirit work in your life, blessings will pour and joy will overflow in your heart.

" Then Jesus said to His Disciples,' If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.'" Matthew 16:24