Sharing the Joy of Christmas

          As we in our household joined together in the spirit of the holiday season, we cherished every moment of our bonding. The hosts of our gathering were Sis Danna and Bro Rodel Ordonez at their lovely residence in Mernda suburban. What  made this gathering a momentous one was that almost all the members were present. 

 While waiting for the food to be served, we enjoyed ourselves through our karaoke session. Each one rendered his masterpiece to the delight of the rest of the group. Songs ranging from the 60s up to the latest ones were performed by the group.

After a while, food was served and everyone was delighted to the various recipes prepared by the different wives of our household. 

          As each one is excited to welcome the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, the joy also of being gathered together as one community through our household was very evident on the face of each member. Thus, we say good- bye to 2015 and with a high spirit, we welcome this new year 2016. 

The Need To Belong

          One of man's primary needs is the need to belong to a certain group. It goes with his desire to be accepted as a person. However just like any process of communication, it is always a two-way process meaning he needs to be accepted by the other members of that group and at the same time, he needs to accept the whole package of that group so as to be considered as in the group. 

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          Different stages are involved in this process of integrating oneself into the group. At a certain stage, personal values need to be aligned with that of the group. Maybe there could be instances that he needs to sacrifice for the sake of the group. Citing a concrete example of this, if the group is actively participating and responding to the social needs of the times like poverty, social discrimination, racial issues, etc. then he has to convince himself that he values these issues personally so that he can extend a genuine participation to the cause of the group.

            Oneself vs. themselves......man vs. community....him vs. them....sometimes a conflict between any of these groups but somehow, the tides can be turned against a conflicting situation and finally emerging as victorious at the end. Hence the best way to belong to a particular group is by initially checking what are the values this group has and compare them with one's own values. 

A Borrowed Quote

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What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.

Ralph Marston

I personally shared this borrowed quote from Ralph Marston for I strongly believe on what he shared here that whatever we do in the present moment of time will greatly affect our "tomorrows". 

Henceforth, it is but essential for us to be always  mindful of all the ways that we communicate with others for there might be unfavourable consequences on our actions that may, sooner or later, affect us negatively. 

However, being aware of our everyday dynamics, it is but an everyday challenge for us to constantly monitor and be consistent on our life values for whether we like it or not, there would always be instances wherein these values will be tested and challenged. 

Yet at the end of the day, we will always go back to the basic premise and question ourselves, " What have we done today that improve our life being?", " Have we contributed positively or the contrary to our world today?", Did we become agents of change for others today?"....so on and so forth. 

Again, as Ralph said, let us utilise positively our "todays" to experience a better "tomorrows".....not just for our sake but that of our neighbours regardless of any status, situation, colour etc. in life. 

Moments To Cherish

          Moments of togetherness are precious times to build up relationships among brothers and sisters. Through thick and thin, it is by the support that we share and receive in our community that enable us to go through all those events. Indeed, life is so wonderful that it is ought to be shared with others especially to people so dear to our hearts.

          That's exactly what we esteemed much in our group, the CFC NorthEast Household when we joined together to share the joy of Bro. Rodel and Sis Danah on their newly purchased home in Mernda, a northeast suburban community of Melbourne. All the members of our household were present except for Bro. Alvin and Sis Denden who were busy taking care of something very important. 

      Anyway, we all treasured the food, the ambience of the fresh place and the impressiveness of the environment as the new owners were so proud in sharing with us those recently welcomed blessings in their life. We are all thankful to God for showering us such opportunity to gather together in His name as we also welcomed in our household the new couple member, Bro. Jose and Sis Daisy. 

"Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance"

Listening to God's Word

Psalm 130:1-4, 7-8

"A song of ascents. Out of the depths I call to you, Lord. Lord hear my cry! May your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. "If you Lord, mark our sins, Lord who can stand? But with you is forgiveness and so you are revered."

          If you listen intently to this psalm you will discover then that God's overflowing kindness and love for mankind is so great. However man also has to do his share. Being love so tremendously by God does not give him or her the go signal to proceed and make deeds which can break God's heart. 

          Though mankind is given the freedom and will yet he also needs to facilitate all his faculties to the fullest so as to unceasingly perform acts which are according to God's pathway-that is geared towards kindness and mercy. Instinctively, this is always doable be that as it may on a certain point, there is the ongoing challenge on how to be consistent on this right path. Certain facts of life may be against one's liking and desire however with much faith and trust in the Lord, there is also that assurance that everything will be put on its proper place. 

          Thus continue to submit everything to Him above and let Him rule your life. All the desires of your heart must be in accordance to His will and guidance.

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Father God's Love Empowers Us If We Know He Loves Us Every Bit As Much As He Does His Son Jesus

by Roger Himes

All love comes through God to us. It does not originate in us, as we are sometimes led to believe through the law which tells us, "YOU love God with all your heart, mind soul and strength, and YOU love others as yourself."

This sounds really good and noble, but it is impossible to live by.

WE CAN'T LOVE GOD WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE IN US

We're just not capable of doing this as human beings. We're too fragmented, with too many things and people that are important to us. We can include God, but we can't love God with everything we have in us. And, even if we could, which we can't, but if we could love God with everything we have in us, what would we have left over to love anybody else with? Preaching this is like putting a candle on the end of a stick in front of the donkey. I'm sure you've seen the picture of this. The donkey can never reach the carrot. It's always just a little bit in front of him.

GOD LOVES US MORE THAN WE CAN COMPREHEND

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This is why Paul says that we are to know the love of Christ, that passes knowledge, so we might be filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:19). The point is that God's love for us is so far beyond our understanding, and our ability to grasp it, that it too often just goes right over our heads. We zone out instead of zoom in on it. It's just too much for us. It's unbelievable.

We're told that the Father loves us every bit as much as he loves Jesus (John 17:23). This is really, really mind blowing. Abba Father loves us as much as he does his only begotten Son? Our minds short circuit and say 'no way this side of heaven.' At least this is how our flesh reacts. Our spirits tend to light up when we hear this, wondering if it could really be true. This is why we're called believers and not understanders. Jesus says our job is to believe God's truth, even as ridiculous as it may sound to our reasoning minds (John 6:29).

WHEN WE DO BELIEVE GOD, THEN OUR FAITH GROWS MORE

Paul says faith works through love (Gal 5:6). He is speaking of God's love, not our human love. You see, when we begin to take God at his word -- and believe and live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God as Jesus says to, then our faith grows (Mat 4:4). God's love is what causes our faith to grow, and as it grows then we receive more of his love. God's love and faith just keep growing in us. It's synergistic. It's like compound interest.

THIS IS WHY LIVING BY RELIGION HURTS US DEEPLY

If we live by law and religion, they point the finger at us, and tells us we are guilty before God. Paul calls it the ministry of condemnation and death. The more rules we live by the less a true, intimate relationship with have with God, and thus the less of his love we can receive into us.

Not only does law keep us from knowing God's love, but it keeps us from knowing who we are in Jesus: our identity in Christ. This is what Paul says. He says we are SELF-righteous if we live by law, and we can't receive the righteousness that comes by means of the faith of Christ (Phil 3:9). He says if we live by SELF-righteousness, then we can't know the righteousness of God in us (Rom 10:2). It is when we know our righteousness in Christ that we truly come to know God's love for us.

GOD IS IN LOVE WITH US

It's really hard to envision God really and truly being in love with us, which is what Paul says in Ephesians 1, but when we turn our belief system on, and truly grasp this, then we become rooted and grounded in God's love, as he says in Ephesians 3:17.

It's gospel truth: Abba Father loves us like crazy, as crazy as it sounds.

Paul says God chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame, standing before him in love (Eph 1:4). This verse is telling us something very significant. It tells us the reason God loves us is because he chose us before the world even began. Our minds again short-circuit at such a thought: "How can you mean this, God? I wasn't even born until just recently." But you see, God knows all things, and time is nothing to God.

He knew whether or not we were going to be in Christ long before we were ever born. Yes we have free will, but God knew before the foundation of the world how we would exercise our free will -- either to come to him, or not to come to him. If we come to him, he loves us as much as he does Jesus. Period.

It's something he decreed, and wrote in the halls of heaven. This is why Jesus says our job is to believe. When we truly reject all other beliefs, and only believe gospel truth, as Jesus says to do, then everything in life changes. This includes us knowing that Abba Father loves us as much as he does his only begotten Son Jesus.

More Information:

The Gospel Life Coach shows the gospel is the power of God, causing us to live life better by accident than we can on purpose:

http://www.RogerHimesLawyerBusinessCoach.com.

This article is also available as a video at: http://RogerHimesLifeCoach-GospelTranformation.com.

Read regular tweets on Twitter: /TheGospelCoach that will impact your day for the better. Religion demands that we live life right. The gospel empowers us to live life right.


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