S.O.A.P What A Wonderful Tool

Have you ever wondered why God’s voice can’t be heard very often in our lives? I mean, doesn’t He want to let us know how to live? Or more importantly, tell us what he wants from us in His own words. Some people and pastors out there will say, “God’s voice is a small still voice, so we will have to be quite and still to hear God.” This is true and all, but I thought to myself how still and quite do I have to be in order to hear God through out my life. It’s going to be hard to live if we have to be still all the time. This subject really bothered me until I got my answer in today’s S.O.A.P. (S.O.A.P is a tool or format that helps a person when reading the Bible, it stand for Scripture Observation Application and Prayer) Well today’s reading was from the book of John chapters 7 and 8. My answer for this troubling issue came from John 8:47- which says “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” So after reading this I started to feel bad because I found out that it’s not only sitting quite and still, it also includes belonging to the Lord. I also realized that there are parts in my life that are stopping me from having that intimate relationship with the Lord that I desire. The next question is what I am going to do about belonging and this is a whole new subject to be discussed next time. God is Good All the Time!!!!

Attitude

The longer I look out my little bubble, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes

Satan Leave Me Alone

SATAN WHAT DO YOU REALLY SEE
THAT YOU HAVE TO TRY AND DAMAGE ME
YOU SHOW ME THINGS THAT WILL NOT PLEASE MY FATHER
I JUST CAN'T GET IT WHY DO YOU EVEN BOTHER
THERE MIGHT EVEN BE TIME THAT I WILL FAIL
BUT KNOW THIS, MY FATHER'S PLAN WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL
SO GO AHEAD WITH YOUR TRICKS AND LIES
THE DAY WILL COME WHEN ALL WILL DIE
SO LEAVE ME ALONE DON'T EVEN WORRY
IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU MESSED UP AND FELL FROM GLORY.

God Uses Anyone

This Thanksgiving I spent it at the Neal Blasidell with the Salvation Army. The difference about this year is that i was actually helping instead of going there to eat. Being part of the Revolution Hawaii team we had to run the prayer room and that's where the blessing came rolling in.

See we all heard that God uses anyone with a willing heart to do His work from pastors, sermons, or even bible studies, but do we really take it to heart. Well as I sat there in the prayer room a heavy set guy wearing all red came in. He had a slight speeching disorder (to me it seem like he was just short tongue or something). We sat in the far left corner of the room and he started to cry. While he was crying i heard him say "no one understands me", so i told him what is he talking about because I could understand him perfectly. He then looked at me and said "really". I told him yeah. He then looked to the ground and said really softly that God gave him a voice to sing. After saying that he looked at me once again and said what did i say, so i told him. That moment i saw his eyes just light up, it was the type of look that a child gets when he/she has the approval to go into a candy store to get anything he/she wanted. It was so amazing that I felt really happy and to my surprise he really can sing. After he sang a couple of verse from the song "One Foot In The Sand" we prayed and he left the room. I remember looking at him walking out and thinking to myself that little did he know he touch and taught me. God is good All the time and He really uses any willing hearts.

What God Is Doing In My Life

A little update for you on what God doing in my life. Walking the Christian path can be a very unclear walk at times but I can truly say it’s worth every step. When I came back from my tour in Iraq I was lost. I did not know if I was coming or going in life. I actually forgot all the basics that I learned about living as a Christian. I remember telling myself if God knows me as good as He says he does, then why did he send me so far away and allow me to witness all that pain and loss that I had to go through. People can say that God was in control and that he will not allow things to happen that I couldn’t handle and that I should be glad that I came home because He kept me safe. All this is true however when I was going through it I can honestly say that I lost my faith. I remember that all that ran through my head was that God had set me up to fail. Now, being here in Revolution Hawaii I have come to realize that God needed to wake me up. I was too complacent and ignorant. I had everything right in front of me and I didn’t take advantage of it. I even had a relative taking the time to teach me what I needed to know about God, but all I could think of was I wanted to go and play or even party. I had friends in school and co-workers offering to take me to their church to get introduced to God’s love, but I denied every offer. When I graduated from Basic Training I was led to the Salvation Army and had the chance to build that strong unshaken relationship with God that I need through discipleship, Bible reading, and helping around the church, but I didn’t take things seriously and slacked off. See, I have no excuses; I had all the opportunities. God was trying to speak to me, teach me, and train me right but I was being stubborn (must be the Irvine in me). So God took extreme action and sent me away in order to show me some TOUGH LOVE (A Christian Style basic training). I not only learned about God’s tough love I also learned the meaning of the Bible verse that my best friend wanted me to memorize and hide in my heart. You can find it in the book of James verses 2-5 which says, 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. This shows how important it is to memorize God’s word. If I had realized this before, I would have had a better time dealing with the whole Iraq experience. However I like to say its better to learn it now than not to learn it at all.

Which lead me to the next point on how God is moving in my life. One thing we do here in Revolution Hawaii is memorizing chapters in the Bible. The first chapter we had to memorize talked about love. When I heard this I felt really convicted because all I could think of is, “How am I supposed to do this?” I really didn’t want to reflect on love at that moment because I lost what I consider my love in an incident in Iraq. Even though it was over a year ago I felt it was too early to think about love. Then I remembered what happened to me when I didn’t do what God wanted me to do the first time. I just manned up and did it (I didn’t want to go through another of the Lord’s tough love lessons). To my surprise the chapter had a lot of great lessons in it. The writer shows what love really is. It is easy to see that people often misuse it, including me. You can find it in 1st Corinthians Chapter 13th that says, 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. By memorizing this chapter I figured out what I had to work on and what I missed all these years. Verse 3(If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing) helps me out when I go out to do our Saturday Service Program in China Town. Verses 4 and 5 tell me that I need to be PATIENT and KIND. I can’t be PROUD, RUDE or SELF-SEEKING. I can’t ENVY or BOAST. But what really hit home for me when I read this and what I need to really work on is the part that said that I can’t be EASILY ANGERED and I have to KEEP NO RECORD OF WRONG. Which makes sense because how can I say that I love someone if I always get mad and always hold on to what they did to me or if I am not kind or patient. I also remember how God’s love never fails. God Is Good All The Time!!!

CALLING WILLING HEARTS

PAIN AND MISERY SPREAD THROUGH THE LAND
WHY ISN'T EVERYONE LENDING A HAND
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET PEOPLE GOING
THE LORD IS CALLING US IN ALL HE'S DOING
SO ALL WILLING HEARTS PLEASE STEP FORWARD
TO SHOW THE LOST WHAT THY'RE HEADING TOWARDS

KIDS BEING SOLD TO FULFILL RICH PEOPLE NEEDS
GIRLS AND BOYS BEING BEATEN AND WANTING TO FLEE
ALL THEY SEE IS A SMALL SPACE THEY CALL A ROOM
THEN A FLASH OF LIGHT CAUSE BY A FIST OR A BROOM
SO ALL WILLING HEARTS COME OUR WAY
TO SHOW THESE KIDS A BRIGHTER DAY

PEOPLE ON THE STREET SINGING THEIR SONG
WHILE OTHERS COME AND CRUISE ALONG
NOTHING TO SAY NOT EVEN A HELLO
NO TIME TO WAVE OR A LITTLE HERE YOU GO
SO ALL WILLING HEARTS STRETCH OUT YOUR HAND
AND LET HELP THE LORD FREE THIS LAND

LORD SET THEM APART

Walking down the street what do i see

A whole lot of souls crying out to Thee

What do i do? or What do i say?

Can't stand to see them suffer another day

Here I am just a willing heart

Lord, let us team up to set them apart

Apart from the world and into your arms

Into your embrace that protects from all harms