Trust in the Lord with all your Heart and Lean not on your own Understanding

Proverbs 3:5 (New International Version)

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

Such a common verse and I'm sure most if not all have heard and some have even memorized it. But are we really living according to what it says?

According to Merriam Webster TRUST means to hope or expect confidentlyto go or to do something without fear. and

What does that really mean?

This verse is not here for us to just say and memorize because we'd end up just like the pagans described in the Bible. But actually we are to live it as a way of life. When times get rough, when problems soar, when situations just overwhelm us, when it seems nothing's right anymore then it's time to TRUST: to Hope and to Expect Confidently on the Lord! Hoping and expecting that He'll do something.

And when there's challenge ahead and it seems insurmountable and unattainable then it's time to TRUST: to go and to do something without FEAR!

Now, that's what Proverbs 3:5 is all about! 

Check this out as well: Trust the Lord with All Your Heart

Honor the Lord With Your FirstFruits!

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the first and best part of all your income.

Prov. 3:9 [GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)]

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;

Prov. 4:9 [New International Version (©1984)]

I praise the Lord and I would like to testify that our God is Good and forever will be!

Just this Monday, I received an email from our Frontdesk that "I got mail!".

I hurriedly checked on it and I was surprised with what I saw.

I received a check from one of the Advertising companies I have subscribed to. Wow! I didn't expect that. I mean I just blog and blog and try this and try that!

It's not like big but it was like manna from heaven that I wasn't able to stop myself to tell all my workmates about it. LOL!

I then remembered my promise to God when I started this site: I WILL GIVE HIM FULLY MY FIRSTFRUIT!

It was tempting. I mean how lovely it would be to buy a remembrance or spend it on something like a celebration or to even just laminate it (as suggested by one of my friends, my friend is weird (don't tell her..)).

But no, I will keep my promise to the Lord my God.

As is written above by the wisest man ever lived, We are to Honor our God with our FIRST and BEST Part of our Income! And may the Lord be praised. After all he's the reason why this site exists. He's the reason why I exist. Isn't he just worth it?

How about you?

What Best and First fruit have you given to God?

I encouraged you to read a post related to this from a respected Pastor of mine from Singapore, Ptr. Kong Hee: Giving Our First Fruits

Sesame Street 40th Anniversary

HAPPY 40th Anniversary Sesame Street!

Proverbs 17:22 - "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

Where the is no Vision, People Perish | Apollo 11's 40th Anniversary

Proverbs 29:18 (King James Version)

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

July 16, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the success of the Apollo 11's Mission to land in the Moon. At that time nobody thought that that's possible. It would seem to be an insane and crazy thought. But President John F. Kennedy didn't allow these things to stop him from reaching his goal.

He said on May 25, 1961:

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

9 years later, Apollo 11 succesfully returned to earth from Moon on July 16, 1969. Now that's amazing!

I have been checking on the latest blog posts in google and I came across this post from http://www.webinknow.com/ entitled: We choose to go to the moon: What marketers can learn from Apollo.
He had listed three points that surely gave a big hit on me:
1. Set a really BIG Goal
2. Challenge conventional Wisdom
3. It takes teamwork

You may go to his post and read how he explained these points in a "marketer's" perspective.

On this post, I'd try to explain it with my humbler Christian's perspective.

1. SET A REALLY BIG GOAL
-- In Proverbs 29:18, the wisest man said "When there's no vision, the people perish.". And that's very true! Ask any businessman or any succesful man you know how they become who they are right now. I'm sure the unanimous answer will be: "It started with a dream, an idea, a VISION!" Without a person dreaming, nothing will happen. Without a person believing for anything, nothing will happen. Man must first believe and dream! And this is not one of those dreams that you only dream at night and feel good about them when you wake up, these are the dreams and faith and visions that push man to work and do something about them. Visions after all will be empty without action.
-- Also, focus on "BIG GOAL". When you dream, don't dream for things that are easily reachable. Dream for things that you're incapable of achieveing, things that would seem impossible for you, things that are REALLY BIG that it overwhelms you. This way, you'll trust in GOD and will allow HIM to work through YOU for these dreams to happen. Surely, your faith will increase and your relationship with him will be more closer!


2. Challenge Conventional Wisdom
-- When people say it's Impossible, you say "I can do all things through Christ who gives us strength!". When people say you'll fail, you say "We are more than Conquerors in Christ". When people say you don't have enough knowledge to do it, you say "We have the mind of Christ!"
Now we are not dependent on what other people would say, we depend on what God through His Word say. Prov. 29:18 says "but blessed is he who keeps the law." It is when we keep the law, that we'll know the "what" and the "how" to achieve the dream.

3. It takes TEAMWORK
-- Work with your brothers and friends. Pray about your dream. Pray about your vision and continue seek God's Will. Let's all remember, "It's not good for man to be alone."

What are your visions or dreams lately? What are the challenges you're going through in achieving them? To whom have you shared this vision?

Most importantly, have you constantly prayed about it?

God Bless you!

Open Rebuke is Better than Hidden love

Proverbs 27:5 (NIV) Open rebuke is better than hidden love.

Reflection:

There are two scenarios here. The first one corrects you to bring you back to what's right because he loves you. The second one doesn't correct you because he thinks he might hurt you but the effect is you won't learn what's right. If you look at it long term, I'd choose the first one but you know what that's easier said than done.

Have you been corrected lately? Have you been rebuked before? Maybe because of something you did or maybe because of something you failed to do. As mature as we think we are, we always say it's better to receive feedback now than continue in doing what's wrong but again it's easier said than done.
When somebody rebukes us, it hurts us! We'd start to struggle. We'd love to just easily accept the feedback and try to change our lives for the better. Sadly, most of the time our automatic response is to reason out and defend ourselves (in our minds). We'd even start to fight back by looking for defects from the other person reasoning to ourselves that before he even judges, he should look at himself first.

Rebukes are good. Rebukes from your brothers and sisters in Christ are for the better. They are your keepers, remember? No one's righteous. No not one. (Romans 3:9) There will always be rough edges to clean and wrong attitudes to correct. Even the person who's giving the rebuke, he too is imperfect. But that's not the issue. The main issue is YOU. How do you respond to these feedback and rebuke? They may be done with right motives (to build you up) or with wrong intentions (to just discriminate and discourage you), it doesn't matter. What matters is your response. Respond to learn from these rebukes. Respond for the better. Respond not to retaliate but respond to succumb. It hurts but fight it. If you don't have anything good to say, just zip it. At the end of the day, all these feedback are for the better only if you learn how to take and accept them.

Indeed, I'd say open rebuke is better because that way you'll learn what needs to be changed in your life. Without it, we'd think we're already doing good but actually not yet. Most of the time these are really done because of love especially if it has been given by a Family member in Christ. For you, this is also a great way of showing love to your friends. Just make sure to do it in a loving and caring way.

Recommended Readings:

Nothing Can Separate us From God's love

Be A good Example | Be humble as He is humble

Be Humble | Let others Praise You

Proverbs 27:2 (New International Version)

² Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
someone else, and not your own lips.

Reflection:

How many times did we try to praise ourselves before men? How many times did we struggle just to be noticed and appreciated or recognized? And most of the time it ends up the opposite.

We need recognition, rewards, praises and appreciation at times but it should never become our main reason and motivation for doing something. God blesses us when we obey His will but our motivation should never be the blessing but the desire to obey Him. Not after the Hand but after the Heart of God as others would usually say. Let's be excellent with what we're doing not because we have been recognized and appreciated but because we're working for the Lord and not for men [Eph. 6:7].

God wants to remind us through his Word,

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. [Phil. 2:3]

Today, I'd take the opportunity of thanking my friends for Blog Awards they've given me. Let God be glorified with these awards. More of him and less of me.

by Kay of Christian Blog and Koko of Kokijar

Frienship Awardees:

Cindy of God Nuggets Blog

Valerie of Simply4God

Rey of Bloggista's Attic

Brad of -sound of softbreath-

Xprosaic's World

Tyrone of Provident 360

by Goody of A Friend Named Goody

The instructions say I would need to award these awards to other bloggers. For now let me hold off and choose the right ones to be recognized. I'll just be updating this post once I've already chosen. Again Thanks Kay, Koko and Goody! God Bless you more!

Recommended Readings:

The Power to be Wealthy and Rich

Remember not to Forget

Trust The Lord with All your Heart

Proverbs 3:5-6 (New King James Version)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Reflection:

There are times when we feel like everything is just so complicated and is starting to be out of our control. These things happen when we do things on our own. When we decide and make choices based on our logic and wisdom. Solomon, the wisest man ever lived said "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12". This only means our own decisions mostly are not dependable.

What is the Lord telling us?

Learn to let go and let God which means in every decision, plan or choice seek God's will first before proceeding. It also means, whatever situation you are in or circumstance you're going through ACKNOWLEDGE Him. Acknowledging Him means believing that all these are part of His God's plan for you.

God Bless you today!