Mengenal Identitas Kita Dalam Kristus

How do we agree with life and long life as God's will for us? There are 2 contrasting remarks from 2 "advance in year" men in the Bible An 85 years old Caleb said in Joshua 14:10-12 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive , as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old . 11 As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in . 12 Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said. ” And let's read some conversation between Barzillai & King David, 2 Samuel 19:33-35 "The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over...

Apakah Kita Menyembah Allah Yang Megalomania Yang Menuntut Kesetiaan Kita? August 04, 2022 Ini hanya sharing pribadi, hanya sehari setelah Natal 2020....beberapa refleksi tentang apa yang dulu saya lihat/pikirkan/percaya. Saat saya remaja saya memiliki pemikiran religius bahwa ketika saya menyembah Tuhan maka Dia akan menyelamatkan saya selamanya dan saya akan ke surga suatu hari, dan sebaliknya berarti ketika saya tidak Dia akan mengirim saya ke neraka. Ini cukup menakutkan ... jadi saya menyembah Tuhan. Tapi jauh di lubuk hati saya, saya dengan tulus selalu berpikir bahwa Dia semacam mafia megalomania. Mengapa Dia membutuhkan orang untuk selalu memihak-Nya sementara Dia seharusnya cukup aman sebagai Yang Mahakuasa? Hidupku cukup baik, tapi mengapa "Pribadi berkuasa di atas sana" ini memberiku peringatan yang terdengar lebih seperti ancaman bagiku? Apakah itu terdengar seperti latihan gangster? Kita perlu membayar beberapa pembalasan kepada "Godfather" untuk kesela...

It's just a personal sharing, just a day after Christmas 2020....some reflection about what I used to see/think/believe. When I was growing I had a religious thought that when I worship God then He'll save me eternally and I'm going to heaven one day, and the opposite means when I don't He'll send me to hell. It's pretty scary...so I worship God. But deep down in me I sincerely always thought that He's kind of a megalomania mafia. Why He needs people to always side Him while He's supposed to be secured enough as the Almighty one? My life was pretty decent, but why this "Guy up there" gave me warning that sounded more like a threat to me? Does it sound like a gangster's practice? We need to pay some retribution to the "godfather" for our own safety, or else he'll harm us. I thought, "Why He needs my praise & worship. Is he like a megalomania that indulge in others' appraisal?". Imagine, we as human ourselves.....

"How do we know God's will about healing?"  1. We pray for God to heal. If healing occurs it means it is His will, if not it means it is not His will.  OR  2. We believe what His words say Isaiah 53:4 “Behold, He has borne our affliction (sickness) And brought our sorrow (sickness);” Psalm 103:2 “Who forgives ALL (not "some") of your iniquities, Who cure ALL of your ailments."  "How do we get divine healing?"  1. Assure God that we will optimise our good deeds in return, try our best to be perfect - Trust in our ability to please Him  OR  2. Even though God says in His Word (Isaiah 53:4, Psalm 103:2, etc.) it doesn't mean He always wants us to be healed, it could also mean spiritual healing. So in this case there is no certainty, this is a divine mystery, God is sovereign to do things that are different from His will which is written in His word.  OR  3. In the problems we face we are the one that need to be convinced that He loves us uncondi...

When I was growing up I was exposed to 2 kinds of teaching about divine healing. The first one was "ask God relentlessly, and do something to please Him (or at least to corner Him with our goodness)" that sometimes sounded like we needed to "twist" God's hand. And the 2nd one which I subscribed to was "ask God but don't force Him" since this one sounded more polite & more logical to me as at the end of the day I learnt that God is sovereign, we couldn't push or force Him, we respect His decision...sometimes He heals, sometimes He doesn't.   Those were two opposing polars for me to choose from, and somehow I could relate well about the contradiction, both polars had their own ground of reasoning.   At the end I saw that though they contradict each other, they have some similarity. Do you notice what I noticed?   They both actually come from the same reasoning that "it's not always God's will to heal". The different is i...

Kebaikan Tuhan adalah untuk semua orang.  Kami sangat bersyukur atas kesempatan untuk menyaksikan kasih-Nya yang terwujud sebagai penyembuhan. Matius 10:8 "Sembuhkanlah orang sakit; bangkitkanlah orang mati; tahirkanlah orang kusta; usirlah setan-setan. Kamu telah memperolehnya dengan cuma-cuma, karena itu berikanlah pula dengan cuma-cuma." Markus 16:17-18  "Tanda-tanda   ini akan menyertai   orang-orang yang percaya: mereka akan mengusir setan-setan demi nama-Ku, mereka akan berbicara dalam bahasa-bahasa yang baru   bagi mereka,   mereka akan memegang ular,   dan sekalipun mereka minum racun maut, mereka tidak akan mendapat celaka; mereka akan meletakkan tangannya   atas orang sakit, dan orang itu akan sembuh." Yesaya 53:4-5 " Tetapi sesungguhnya, penyakit kitalah yang ditanggungnya, dan kesengsaraan   kita yang dipikulnya, padahal kita mengira dia kena tulah, dipukul dan ditindas   Allah.   Tetapi dia tertikam   oleh kar...

Jesus Is Offensive To Religions Even To Christianity Do you find God's Word is weird? And sometimes it's offensive to our nice and sweet Christian's believes. To be frank, I was and still am "offended" by God's words. I thought to be His believer I just need to do good, talk about simple Christian's ideas, be nice to each other, come or organise some religious gatherings, program some activities together, and many other social stuffs. If we talk about Bible let's talk about something neutral, how to be a good person, how to function well in society. These topics  are pretty safe and neutral to everyone, anyway people generally believe in good virtues. But some Jesus' stories of the Bible that is too offensive to be preached as it is, hence we skip it or it needs to be neutralised to sound pleasing within the religious idea. Here are some : 1. JESUS RAISED LAZARUS John 11:1  Now a certain  man  was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her ...