Ezekiel 8: 10 - 12 (New Revised Standard Version)
So I went in and looked; there portrayed on the wall all around, were all kinds of creeping things, and loathsome animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel. Before them stood seventy of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the fragrant cloud of incense was ascending. Then he said to me, "Mortal, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of images? For they say, "The Lord does not see us..."
This is a vision that Ezekiel had of the elders of Israel worshipping idols, "each in his room of images" according to God (he's the one addressing Ezekial by calling him "Mortal"). I challenge you to consider this: If your life had a "Room of Images", what could someone find if they were invited in? What are you offering your worship too, your time, your thoughts, your inner most being? Who are you when no one else sees you, when you are in "the dark"? We live in the world, so there are things we have to do in order to live in the world like school, work, eat, shower, breathe, interact with other people. Each of us is also a unique reflection of God, and so we have God-given talents and activities that we like that reflect God's nature. But if someone walked into your "Room of Images", would they find God reflected there? If so, great! If not, what are you willing to do about it?
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Prayer To Save A Marriage
One night a few years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with the thought that I needed to pray for a friend's marriage. I had this very strange vision of what could have been a camera zooming in on one spouse shouting into the camera that they did not want to be married to their spouse anymore. It was so strange because I didn't think that they were having any marriage troubles. So I prayed until the image of the spouse shouting at the camera faded. I fell asleep. As with all visions and strange nightly wakings, I hoped to myself that I was not crazy and that it was truly God. I didn't think much about it after.
About a year or so after this incident, one spouse shared with me the fact that the other had left without intention of returning (or at least the mention of it). They ended up returning stating that God had convicted them, and the couple is still married today. The timing was crazily about the time I had woken up in the middle of the night to pray!
While it seems weird to our Western minds, I am so thankful that God trusted me enough to wake me up to pray for my friend. It makes me wonder how many times God has woken up someone else with thoughts of me. It also makes me wonder how many other people God tried to wake up to pray, such as if he tried to wake up others and they dismissed it as eating pizza too close to bedtime.
I challenge those that read this to be available to God... you never know what is at stake. I challenge you to be able to answer like Samuel:
About a year or so after this incident, one spouse shared with me the fact that the other had left without intention of returning (or at least the mention of it). They ended up returning stating that God had convicted them, and the couple is still married today. The timing was crazily about the time I had woken up in the middle of the night to pray!
While it seems weird to our Western minds, I am so thankful that God trusted me enough to wake me up to pray for my friend. It makes me wonder how many times God has woken up someone else with thoughts of me. It also makes me wonder how many other people God tried to wake up to pray, such as if he tried to wake up others and they dismissed it as eating pizza too close to bedtime.
I challenge those that read this to be available to God... you never know what is at stake. I challenge you to be able to answer like Samuel:
1 Samuel 3:4... the LORD called Samuel; and he said, "Here I am."
Sunday, September 16, 2012
The Ultimate Job
Mark 11:24 (NIV)
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
It was the day before Thanksgiving. We, my coworkers and I, were given our pink slips. Yes, we were laid off. The day before Thanksgiving.
I needed a job. That much was for certain. I spent a month looking, searching, praying. I dressed up in interview clothes every day and walked around with my resume, just in case I might see a job opportunity. The town I live in is a smaller town, so it's possible to find a job opportunity in line at the grocery store.
One thing I learned was that you don't go to the unemployment office in interview clothing because heaven forbid that you should actually want to work that day if you were hired. Instead you ought to roll around in dirt and not comb your hair, because if you don't, people in line at the unemployment office look like they want to kill you because you (a rich person because you are dressed rich when in actuality you are wearing your best clothing because you are becoming increasingly poorer each day and need a job) dare stand in line to take a job that they could get. I have never been looked at like that in my life. The way someone gives a sideways glance to a person who is acting inappropriately. Unlike some people, I was actually actively (key word: actively) searching for a job.
I prayed for a job that would provide a good income, have benefits, be close to my home at the time, where I would be able to use my knowledge of the medical field, where I'd have good coworkers, and where I'd have a good supervisor. I received two job interviews at two tax places, needing temporary workers for the tax season. The first tax place wanted to hire me. I was scared to say no because there wasn't much out there. But I felt like the pay I was offered was too low to live on. Then I got called for the second job interview. And then one of my other applications, at a clinic, came through. They wanted me to interview on the same day. The clinic interview came first. They wanted to hire me on the spot for a job that I did not apply for. After much inner debate, I decided to take the job and let the other place know I was not interested in the interview.
Over the next four and a half years, the job proved to be exactly what I'd ordered and more. Not only has everything been better than I asked for, but the job unexpectedly provided for me in a very tough place, and I am still seeing the provision from it. Last year I went through a very rough time in life, one I might be able to blog about twenty or thirty years from now. We'll see. I had to make many adjustments in living and I went hungry sometimes (although miraculously food turned up at convenient times... more on that later), and I cried a lot because I didn't have enough money to pay for some medical things I needed (and other hard things that were going on in life). The job that I prayed for, thinking only in the short term, ended up carrying me through the hard times and once I adjusted my living, it allowed me to save up for the next adventure in life. It also helped provide for medical expenses through a good insurance program so that actually a lot of my crying about medical expenses proved to be fruitless because most of them were already provided for. I wish I could go into detail, but that is for another time.
I wish I could have found a better scripture for this post, because I do believe that some people treat God like a vending machine. It's not like that. Insert prayer, receive blessing. In this case, I did believe that God would provide me with what I asked for, only he not only provided for my immediate needs, he also provided ahead of time for things in the future. He went above and beyond what I asked for. It is so awesome to be in relationship with a God like that! When you are in relationship with him, then you can do Mark 11:24. That way you are asking things within God's will, coming before God with clean hands and living a life pleasing to him so that He can't help but bless you. Anyway, God is awesome.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
It was the day before Thanksgiving. We, my coworkers and I, were given our pink slips. Yes, we were laid off. The day before Thanksgiving.
I needed a job. That much was for certain. I spent a month looking, searching, praying. I dressed up in interview clothes every day and walked around with my resume, just in case I might see a job opportunity. The town I live in is a smaller town, so it's possible to find a job opportunity in line at the grocery store.
One thing I learned was that you don't go to the unemployment office in interview clothing because heaven forbid that you should actually want to work that day if you were hired. Instead you ought to roll around in dirt and not comb your hair, because if you don't, people in line at the unemployment office look like they want to kill you because you (a rich person because you are dressed rich when in actuality you are wearing your best clothing because you are becoming increasingly poorer each day and need a job) dare stand in line to take a job that they could get. I have never been looked at like that in my life. The way someone gives a sideways glance to a person who is acting inappropriately. Unlike some people, I was actually actively (key word: actively) searching for a job.
I prayed for a job that would provide a good income, have benefits, be close to my home at the time, where I would be able to use my knowledge of the medical field, where I'd have good coworkers, and where I'd have a good supervisor. I received two job interviews at two tax places, needing temporary workers for the tax season. The first tax place wanted to hire me. I was scared to say no because there wasn't much out there. But I felt like the pay I was offered was too low to live on. Then I got called for the second job interview. And then one of my other applications, at a clinic, came through. They wanted me to interview on the same day. The clinic interview came first. They wanted to hire me on the spot for a job that I did not apply for. After much inner debate, I decided to take the job and let the other place know I was not interested in the interview.
Over the next four and a half years, the job proved to be exactly what I'd ordered and more. Not only has everything been better than I asked for, but the job unexpectedly provided for me in a very tough place, and I am still seeing the provision from it. Last year I went through a very rough time in life, one I might be able to blog about twenty or thirty years from now. We'll see. I had to make many adjustments in living and I went hungry sometimes (although miraculously food turned up at convenient times... more on that later), and I cried a lot because I didn't have enough money to pay for some medical things I needed (and other hard things that were going on in life). The job that I prayed for, thinking only in the short term, ended up carrying me through the hard times and once I adjusted my living, it allowed me to save up for the next adventure in life. It also helped provide for medical expenses through a good insurance program so that actually a lot of my crying about medical expenses proved to be fruitless because most of them were already provided for. I wish I could go into detail, but that is for another time.
I wish I could have found a better scripture for this post, because I do believe that some people treat God like a vending machine. It's not like that. Insert prayer, receive blessing. In this case, I did believe that God would provide me with what I asked for, only he not only provided for my immediate needs, he also provided ahead of time for things in the future. He went above and beyond what I asked for. It is so awesome to be in relationship with a God like that! When you are in relationship with him, then you can do Mark 11:24. That way you are asking things within God's will, coming before God with clean hands and living a life pleasing to him so that He can't help but bless you. Anyway, God is awesome.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Dream That Bomb-Threat Would Happen
I wrote in my last post about dreams. I really believe that Christians today too readily dismiss the spiritual aspect of our walk with God, the spiritual aspect of existence. By denying this portion of existence, we leave ourselves vulnerable in this very real war we are waging. Not against people of course, but against spiritual powers.
In my last post, I posted about a warning dream of how the gas prices would rise. I received another dream in fifth grade about something that took place not long after.
I had a dream about a clinic where I was being seen for problems with my wrists. I played guitar, maybe bass (I forget if I started at the time), cello, played on the computer, and wrote at least four hand-written pages every day, giving myself tendonitis and maybe carpal tunnel syndrome.
I went through various kinds of testing to see what was wrong, and it was costing my parents a lot of money. I felt really bad. I had to follow up with the doctor, and if my symptoms had not improved, I would have to do more extensive testing.
I was in physical therapy, and I felt that if my doctor's appointment was moved a week or two out, I might be completely better. But my follow up with the doctor was scheduled when it was. My parents would have to shell out more money, and I would feel even worse.
I asked God to heal my wrists, or at least make some way for my visit to be moved. I was not at an age where I would think to reschedule my appointment. My parents made it for me, it was set in stone.
That night, I had a dream about the clinic building. I did not understand what it meant, but I saw bright orange cones and pandemonium and smoke. I wondered what it meant as my father drove me to the clinic the next day.
When we got to the clinic, there were bright orange cones blocking off the road. There were emergency personnel everywhere it seemed. There was pandemonium, or so it appeared to me.
My dad rolled down his window and spoke to a policeman. The policeman told my father the clinic was closed because they had received a bomb threat. My dad shrugged, what could be done? As we drove away, I told my father about the dream.
He said, "Why didn't you tell me? You would have saved me getting off work!"
I didn't realize it was an important dream, nor what it meant.
Needless to say, I didn't need to follow up with the doctor. I completed my physical therapy, and proceeded to do the exercises I was shown clear into high school. My wrists healed up, and I learned moderation and taking a break when symptoms start threatening to return. And I learned an important lesson: to pay attention to my dreams.
In my last post, I posted about a warning dream of how the gas prices would rise. I received another dream in fifth grade about something that took place not long after.
I had a dream about a clinic where I was being seen for problems with my wrists. I played guitar, maybe bass (I forget if I started at the time), cello, played on the computer, and wrote at least four hand-written pages every day, giving myself tendonitis and maybe carpal tunnel syndrome.
I went through various kinds of testing to see what was wrong, and it was costing my parents a lot of money. I felt really bad. I had to follow up with the doctor, and if my symptoms had not improved, I would have to do more extensive testing.
I was in physical therapy, and I felt that if my doctor's appointment was moved a week or two out, I might be completely better. But my follow up with the doctor was scheduled when it was. My parents would have to shell out more money, and I would feel even worse.
I asked God to heal my wrists, or at least make some way for my visit to be moved. I was not at an age where I would think to reschedule my appointment. My parents made it for me, it was set in stone.
That night, I had a dream about the clinic building. I did not understand what it meant, but I saw bright orange cones and pandemonium and smoke. I wondered what it meant as my father drove me to the clinic the next day.
When we got to the clinic, there were bright orange cones blocking off the road. There were emergency personnel everywhere it seemed. There was pandemonium, or so it appeared to me.
My dad rolled down his window and spoke to a policeman. The policeman told my father the clinic was closed because they had received a bomb threat. My dad shrugged, what could be done? As we drove away, I told my father about the dream.
He said, "Why didn't you tell me? You would have saved me getting off work!"
I didn't realize it was an important dream, nor what it meant.
Needless to say, I didn't need to follow up with the doctor. I completed my physical therapy, and proceeded to do the exercises I was shown clear into high school. My wrists healed up, and I learned moderation and taking a break when symptoms start threatening to return. And I learned an important lesson: to pay attention to my dreams.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Dream That Gas Prices Would Rise
It was a very long time ago, that much's for sure. Gas is now about $4 a gallon. But back then, it was under $2.
I think in today's day and age, it is really easy as Christians to miss the spiritual aspect of our Christian walk. Sure, don't do bad things, go to church, worship crazy, go to a Bible study. You're set.
The problem is that even though we live in a world with learning, technology, and science, there's still a spiritual element to existence.
I suppose I more easily embrace the spiritual element of existence because of my Eastern background, being half Korean. My parents also, I've found, have spiritual giftings that I've observed since childhood and have also discovered that I have an aptitude for. One of those are dreams. I have had an aptitude for dreams since I was a child.
I think some dreams are the consciousness processing the day's comings and goings. Sometimes I've realized it's the time when I can face things I've pushed under the surface, didn't want to face. Some people think they are the result of pizza eaten too late at night. I'm not so sure if food is a factor.
However, one thing I do believe is that God speaks to people in dreams in today's age still. He reveals things that we are too busy to accept or notice during the day, he shows us the future.
There are a few famous dreams in the Bible that I can recall-- Joseph (husband of Mary) being warned by an angel to go to Egypt to save Jesus' life, Joseph (coat of many colors) dreaming about the sheaves and stars, the dream of the king that Daniel interpreted to name a few.
Here is one dream that God gave me at a young age.
It was pretty brief. All I saw was a gas price sign. I watched it as the numbers rose up, changed to $1.89 a gallon. At the time of my dream, it was well under $1.89.
One day, I am not sure how long after, I noticed that the gas prices had risen to $1.89. I told my father about my dream, and he exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell me? I would have bought it in bulk and saved a bunch of money."
I didn't know at the time that I ought to have told him. I wasn't really sure what to do with it. But I suppose this is an example of a warning dream, a warning of hard times to come.
I really appreciate that God chose me for the revelation of this future to come.
I think in today's day and age, it is really easy as Christians to miss the spiritual aspect of our Christian walk. Sure, don't do bad things, go to church, worship crazy, go to a Bible study. You're set.
The problem is that even though we live in a world with learning, technology, and science, there's still a spiritual element to existence.
I suppose I more easily embrace the spiritual element of existence because of my Eastern background, being half Korean. My parents also, I've found, have spiritual giftings that I've observed since childhood and have also discovered that I have an aptitude for. One of those are dreams. I have had an aptitude for dreams since I was a child.
I think some dreams are the consciousness processing the day's comings and goings. Sometimes I've realized it's the time when I can face things I've pushed under the surface, didn't want to face. Some people think they are the result of pizza eaten too late at night. I'm not so sure if food is a factor.
However, one thing I do believe is that God speaks to people in dreams in today's age still. He reveals things that we are too busy to accept or notice during the day, he shows us the future.
There are a few famous dreams in the Bible that I can recall-- Joseph (husband of Mary) being warned by an angel to go to Egypt to save Jesus' life, Joseph (coat of many colors) dreaming about the sheaves and stars, the dream of the king that Daniel interpreted to name a few.
Here is one dream that God gave me at a young age.
It was pretty brief. All I saw was a gas price sign. I watched it as the numbers rose up, changed to $1.89 a gallon. At the time of my dream, it was well under $1.89.
One day, I am not sure how long after, I noticed that the gas prices had risen to $1.89. I told my father about my dream, and he exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell me? I would have bought it in bulk and saved a bunch of money."
I didn't know at the time that I ought to have told him. I wasn't really sure what to do with it. But I suppose this is an example of a warning dream, a warning of hard times to come.
I really appreciate that God chose me for the revelation of this future to come.
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