SoulThirst

As the new fall semester has begun, I hope those of you who are students (including college students) are having good starts to your semesters. The apostle Paul writes:
for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

I heard someone say just a couple days ago, that Paul used the word "content"- not necessarily "ecstatically happy" or "overjoyed." The school year & its stresses may not fill you with much happiness, but you can still be content, knowing that God goes with you & goes before you through the halls of your schools & campuses. Knowing that not a single thing during your day is "overlooked" by him, and perhaps thinking about whether He would want you to talk to Him (even if it is venting) about those things. Maybe some of you should try venting in prayer instead of venting in Xanga/blog (or at least do both).

No matter what, you will have good days and you will have bad days. Learning to be content makes a world of difference.

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Some things you can be praying about for me:

- that I would be a minister who prays more

- greater love for people

- less selfishness

- that I would learn & mature in the area of shepherding others

- that I would find community here in Chicagoland, in CCMC (or rather, that I would find more community)

I think that'll be good for now ^_^0. Just things that God has been reminding me & teaching me.

posted by Andy Chang @ 1:27 PM 0 comments

C. H. Spurgeon

We may gain much solace by considering what God has not said. What He has said is inexpressibly full of comfort and delight; what He has not said is scarcely less rich in consolation. It was one of these "said nots" which preserved the kingdom of Israel in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, for "the Lord said not that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven." 2 Kings 14:27. In our text we have an assurance that God will answer prayer, because He hath "not said unto the seed of Israel, Seek ye Me in vain." You who write bitter things against yourselves should remember that, let your doubts and fears say what they will, if God has not cut you off from mercy, there is no room for despair: even the voice of conscience is of little weight if it be not seconded by the voice of God. What God has said, tremble at! But suffer not your vain imaginings to overwhelm you with despondency and sinful despair. Many timid persons have been vexed by the suspicion that there may be something in God's decree which shuts them out from hope, but here is a complete refutation to that troublesome fear, for no true seeker can be decreed to wrath. "I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I have not said," even in the secret of my unsearchable decree, "Seek ye Me in vain." God has clearly revealed that He will hear the prayer of those who call upon Him, and that declaration cannot be contravened. He has so firmly, so truthfully, so righteously spoken, that there can be no room for doubt. He does not reveal His mind in unintelligible words, but He speaks plainly and positively, "Ask, and ye shall receive." Believe, O trembler, this sure truth--that prayer must and shall be heard, and that never, even in the secrets of eternity, has the Lord said unto any living soul, "Seek ye Me in vain."

posted by Andy Chang @ 10:58 PM 0 comments