luke 8-9.

Jesus anointed by a sinful woman who uses very expensive perfume to wash Jesus' feet. she was known to be very sinful in the town and the pharisees judged her for even coming to Jesus, but He says that she has been forgiven - whoever has been forgiven much, loves much and those who have been forgiven little, loves little. that struck me today. i wonder if i could experience the depth of His love the way that woman did.. she was weeping and so extremely humbled in Jesus' presence.. and so clearly loved Him so very much. and how do I view Jesus? do I love Jesus that much? how can i love him more? i need more repentance in my life and more humility in knowing that I am unworthy of Him.

also the verse aht says "no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." man o man. God, please forgive me for my cowardice and give me boldness/courage to live FOR YOUR PURPOSE unapologetically!

book of lamentations (1-5)

jeremiah (possible author of the book) shares the detailed account of the of Jerusalem and the gruesome demise of the city and its people. the book starts with mourning and sorrow.. then a powerful acknowledgement of God's goodness and His love.. and then repentance of sin. the people of Judah are being punished because of their deliberate disobedience and repeated rebellion against God, completely breaking their covenant with Him.. and God needs to discipline them to bring their hearts back to Him before they fully ruin themselves. He lets them suffer the consequences of their own choices to forsake God... but we see that God never forsakes them. we abandon God but He never abandons us - why? because of Christ. God forsakes Christ, He releases all his wrath and full punishment onto Christ, which is why God would never need to abandon or forsake us... even when we sin all the time. so... although the israelites are so disobdienet, God gives them mercy by letting them suffer for a time but uses that to bring them back to Him to experience full restoration. that's His grace.

mark 16-luke 1. lamentations 1-2.

-birth of john the baptist through barren elizabeth and zechariah of very old age. miraculous conception from God, and when God sent an angel to CLEARLY tell zechariah of this news, zechariah still doubted that it would be true. thinking logically, it didnt make any sense - "how could i in my old age...?" and even though he lacked faith, God still used him anyway because that was His set will. but still, possibly to discipline zechariah bc his lack of faith, he makes him silent for 9 months until baby is born. and after that.. 6 months later.. mary finds out about her miraculous concpetion of Jesus. and when mary hears the news, she's curious, BUT is full of faith and humility that God will use her to fulfill His will.

Mark 14 Jeremiah 52.

fall of Jersualem, end of book. about 9,000 ppl get exiled into Babylon as the prophecy told.

woman who anoints Jesus with jar of very expensive perfume- seems so foolish in the world's eyes. easy to believe that we should bless/serve this world as mcuh as we can, but in actuality, Jesus wants us to bless/serve HIM as much as we can - not this world. it's all about Him. this woman did something to express her love and her servanthood to her King, and that's what matters more than her using that money to bless the world. foolishly SO in love with Jesus. He says that what she did was sobeautiful that wherever the gospel is preached, He would share that story. wow!

Mark 7-8, Jeremiah 45-46.

Jesus feeds the 4,000 and the pharisees ask for a sign from Jesus to know that He is indeed who he says he is. but Jesus is extremely disappointed and refuses to ever show a sign to "this generation." God has in many instance in the past shown signs to ppl who pray and ask for them, as a means of affirmation that God is speaking to them. so what makes Jesus refuse to show a sign to the Pharisees? perhaps their stubborn hearts are already decided that they do not believe in Christ's power.. so Jesus chooses not to work when there is no faith at all. but for ppl like Gideon in the Bible, who asks God for a sign, it is asked with a heart of faith - even though there is some doubt which is why he's asking for a sign- ultimately, Gideon wants to believe that God is really speaking to him. the difference is faith.

saturday's post!

jeremiah 44. mark 6.

disaster bc of idolatry. the ppl of judah are told by jeremiah that death and destruction lies waiting for them bc they disobeyed and went to egypt. their disobedience started even before that when they were worshipping idols and GOd's wrath is going to kill them. the ppl of judah stil have hardened hearts and stubbornly refuse to beleive jeremiah's prophecy and they still want to worship their idols bc they think that their idols can still save them from this bad situation. they are so completely deceived bc they dont get it- they dont undersatnd that their idol worshipping is what got them in this bad situation to begin with, but now they think that their idol worshipping can get them out of it. they're completely blind and cannot udnersatnd jeremiah's prophecies.

thursdays post!

Jeremiah 42-43. Mark 4-5.

Enemies of the ppl of Judah are closing in, the greatest threat being the Babylonians. in a time of death and destruction and fear among all the ppl living in Judah, Johanan and Kareah (two leaders of men of Judah at the time) lead the "remnants" out of Judah to escape to Egypt where they think they can find refuge. On their way, they ask Jeremiah to pray to God and tell them what God wants them to do and where to go. Jeremiah tells them what God says: He says to stay in the land of Judah. not to be afraid of the Babylonians but to trust that God will protect them and deliver them. that they should NOT flee to Egypt bc if they do they will be captured and put to death. but then when Johanan and Kareah hear that, they REFUSE to believe Jeremiah.. even though they asked for GOd's guidance.., they totally rejected it and went off and deliberately disobeyed God. they ended up going to Egypt anyway, trusting their own instincts and thinking that there would be no way to be safe in Judah. am i not similar to them when I'm seeking God's guidance? i feel lost.. i ask for His answers.. and then sometimes, it's so hard to say yes to God when He does give you asnwers to your questions. because it always requires SUCH faith!!! i dont blame the ppl of Judah for being so fearful.. i wouldve totally been the same way. i need to pray for more faith and boldness to trust that.. when God speaks, that i will obey.

tuesday's post!

jeremiah 40-41, mark 2-3.

the paralytic is healed because of his faith, yet again. Jesus chooses to heal "when he saw the man's great faith." always the common theme. the paralytic cut into the roof of the home that Jesus was in just so that he could be healed. cut into a roof?! what the heck! that's sooo laborious and seems ridiculous... but the man wanted to beat the crowd and he just HAD to see Jesus. He truly mustve believed that with just ONE encounter with Jesus, His life would be transformed. do i believe that Jesus can do that with my non-CHristians coworkers and friends? Can He really change their lives COMPLETELY with just ONE encounter? do i have that faith?

sunday's post!

jeremiah 38-39. mark 1-2.

jeremiah's prophesies start to come true. king zedekiah of judah gets captured and the whole city of Jerusalem is set aflame by the Babylonians. Some get captured and taken into Babylonians and some stay in the city as its getting destroyed. Those who God wants to save will not die by sword, will escape with their life, but will be in captivity in Babylon. He saves the select few who trust in Him. He will be faithful to them.

the Spirit sends out Jesus to get tempted.. it was intentional. God needed to test Jesus and in the same way, God needs to test us. sharpen us through putting us in tempting situations and helping us overcome them like Jesus did. Jesus' ministry goes into late hours of the night - He heals many people, entire towns gathered to bring the sick and possessed. And yet He still would wake up early in the morning to go off to a solitary place and pray. Even He needed to start the day off with dependence and strength from the Father... what makes me think I can start the day without seeking God? It'd be great to discipline myself to do my qts early every morning.

the story cont'd

reading the section about samson's life -
this part of the chapter is hard to summarize, b/c it's made up of a lot of little stories...
i haven't read far enough to see where this is going (well i know delilah is gonna come up sometime or later but yeah), but basically samson is a very strong man... he destroyed a lot of things. and a lot of people tried to bring him down using different tactics.

Jeremiah 34-35. Matthew 25-26.

today's friday- spent the night journaling and reflecting.. had a lot on my mind.. got a chance to talk with my roomie and watch this testimony. really insightful and made me think... how WORTHY is God in my life? powerful testimony- i'd really encourage you to watch it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tErggyr_Z20

jeremiah 34-35

jeremiah continues to prophesy to the king of judah, zedekiah, while Babylonians are beginning to seize Jerusalem. he tells him that the whole city will be given to babylon and will be burned down, but his life will be spared. his death will eventually come, but it will be in peace after the city's capture. and jeremiah also is sent to prophesy to a Recabite family.. this seems kinda random at first, but is then purposeful in making a comparison between the Recabites and the Israelites. The Recabites are known for being very faithful and true to their forefather's commands and instructions... and then God asks why even this earthly family can obey their earthy fathers, then why are the Israelites so unfaithful to their Father in heaven?

ergg wednesdays post!

matthew 23-24

seven woes, signs of the end of age, and the day that Christ returns. God is not pleased with the the Pharisees who appear beautiful and clean on the outside but are decaying with sin on the inside. The signs of the end of age are earthquakes and famines and an antichrist will rise up and the people of God will have to be unwavering in their faith until Christ returns. and when He does it will be a day that no one is expecting. so we should always be ready, faithful to all things God has called us to until He returns.