Which voice is holding the truth? God said, "You are the Children of Light!" But the serpent said, "You are the children of darkness."
Who are we?; And where are we?; Or where do we want to be?
Because of one letter, we will end up at a totally different world, the Kingdome of God eternal or a Utopia, temporal. One is the Creator and the other is a creature. One of their kingdoms is run by the love of God and the other is run by the power.
One came to save us but the other came to destroy us. It reminds us the story in the Garden of Eden. Whose kingdom would you like to be in?
One is the Truth and the other is a lie. History repeats itself from the beginning and what can we learn from it?
Truly, history repeats itself and it is not our memory problem.
Is this a same story from the garden of Eden? History repeats itself?
Which cross can we take? One saved the humanity but the other destroyed the humanity.
"For this is how God loved the world; He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16, NLT).
Where is it coming from? Can we blame our memory?
A half truth is a lie and we know it is not our memory problem. But what is it?
“Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm” (Ephesians 6:13, NLT).
Greetings to you all in the name of
our Lord, Jesus Christ,
One day, as I looked out the window
at the maple tree, I realized that it is already the fall season because the
colors began to change. However, where was summer? I felt like I lost the whole
year because of COVID 19. Because there were tons of things that we were not
able to do, it seemed like creating a huge void in the year 2020 in my life.
But it does not mean that nothing happened. We just were not able to do things
in the way we loved to as much as before.
Now, is it over yet, I mean the
pandemic? Not really! But it continues. On the top of it, there were more. My
friend Pastor Kerry described this current reality like this: racism has raised
its ugly head; the UMC is irreparably broken; and our nation is greatly
divided! God is certainly calling His church to prayer. So true!
We know there are tons of reasons
why we need to pray apart from those reasons because we always need God in the
midst of our life struggles because He is the ultimate answer for us. So how do
you deal with this reality at this time? Through prayers! We truly believe it
so because God will fully load us with his power as we pray. And it will fight
for us. However, the victory was already ours!
Several weeks ago, I heard a story of someone who had a deep depression but she has been able to overcome it as she has accepted the power of Jesus Christ in her life. However, when the COVID 19 came with some social restrictions, her depression came back. Negative images about herself began to surround her minds and weighed down on her whole being. She became full of unworthiness, despair, and loneliness. But one day, she had a dream of being in a basement full of ugly monkeys annoying her. But suddenly one scripture from the gospel of John came to her mind so she continually spoke it out loud in her dream. In the end, those monkeys gradually disappeared.
“You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44, NRSV).
From her dream, God showed her that
all those negative, fearful, heavy, depressed, and empty thoughts and feelings
were all lies from the power of darkness that tried to keep her in the reality
of sin and death. As she woke up, she began to reject all the lies that she had
heard from inside of her mind against her true self that God had created anew.
In other words, she was able to overcome it and became much stronger in God’s
presence.
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
where are you now as we begin our new month? Are you fully loaded and equipped
by the power of God dealing with those unseen enemies around us through
prayers? In the month of October, we will be equipped with the word of God
standing in front of two choices, the truth and the lies. And we will see how
God brought us victory!
Join us again!
Pastor
Kyochul
P.S. By the way, does anyone know what the four words of
Jesus used when he rejected devil in the wilderness?
“Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not
know about things to come.” (Jeremiah 33:3, NLT)
Morehouse College, “We Shall Overcome!”
Greetings to you all
in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
It has been quite the summer with news of hurricanes,
floods, and fires in many different places in our world, even in the world of
our politics, economy as well as in human relationships, fighting with unseen
enemies like COVID 19 outbreak or all isms. However, we know that human reality
is unavoidable and it is nothing new to us because of our sins from the
beginning in the Christian understanding. I am just wondering where I am and
what I am doing dealing with this reality now.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, how are you dealing with
the same reality in the same world?
First of all, we are the church, the body of Christ, that holds the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. However, what can we do as a church together who holds it?
“Whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever
you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19b, NRSV)
We remember that Jesus promised Peter, calling him the Rock
on which he builds his church. So now what? One thing comes to my mind. “Pray!”
So, do we pray? If so, how do we pray?
More than two thousand years ago, the people of Israel sang
a song in Babylonian exile.
“O Babylon, you will be destroyed.
Happy is the one who pays you back
for what you have done to us. Happy is the one who takes your babies
and smashes them against the rocks.” (Psalm 137:8-9, NLT)
After they lost their country and their families, they were
captured by their enemy and brought to those enemy’s land. They were not able
to worship in Jerusalem anymore but had to please those Babylonians who crushed
their temple and families as the war slaves. So what could they do? They prayed
for revenge.
I am just wondering if our righteous God listened to their
prayers and crushed them like that prayer at the moment. Would those Hebrew
slaves really be happy? And would it be the will of God done on earth as in
heaven for justice? Maybe temporarily; however, not eternally. Why? Because
they still have to deal with the reality of sin and death after their will be
done on earth. So, do we still want that? No! So what is the eternal solution
for those sinful mortals including us?
“Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21, NRSV)
We know we are the ones who can be crushed like that by the
just and righteous God because of our reality of sin and death. It is also
because God listens to our prayers watching all the unjust and unrighteous
things that happen among us and by us against each other. He knows them all.
How can we be free from the wrath of our all-knowing God toward our unavoidable
sin?
Only through Christ and his grace!
Bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit is the sign of being
freed from the reality of sin and death by the grace of Jesus Christ!
Join us again!
Pastor Kyochul
