It seems like Habakkuk is complaining to God about all the terrible things that are going on in this world.  And God’s first response is, “Just you wait; there will be more.  The worst is yet to come.”  Then Habakkuk complains some more, and God reveals the coming destruction for all the wicked who turn away from God.  Then Habakkuk prays to God, praising the Lord for His power, might, and justice.

At the end of the book he concludes: Even though the world is falling apart around me, I will rejoice in God, my Savior, who gives me strength and enables me to climb to the heights.

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“Though the fig tree does not bud
       and there are no grapes on the vines,
       though the olive crop fails
       and the fields produce no food,
       though there are no sheep in the pen
       and no cattle in the stalls,

 ¹⁸ yet I will REJOICE in the LORD,
       I will be JOYFUL in God my Savior.

 ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
       he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
       he enables me to go on the heights.”

~Habakkuk 3:17-19

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When I heard George’s testimony, I was amazed at what God has done in his life.  George has a genuine heart on fire for God which overflows from the LOVE and amazing saving grace he has received from our Lord Jesus Christ.  His faith and passion for God is challenging and encouraging.

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Now when I see George, my heart overflows with joy and praise to the AWESOMENESS of God.  I love hearing him talk in his very unique way and hearing him sing so bodly, because he is such a testimony.  Praise God for this brother that I have in Christ!

“I’m really glad that I met you.”  And I’m really glad that I met you too.  Even now, I can’t get you out of my mind.  I think it has to do with our testimonies.  It is so amazing the past pain and struggle that we’ve both been through.  It’s so encouraging to see what God has brough you through.  Praise God for His deliverance in your life.  I am so joyful that you have finally found the TRUTH that sets you FREE.  Free from the past, from sin, from depression, from the scars, the pain, free from the torment of the evil one.  YOU ARE FREE!

May God continue His work that He has begun in you.  May he bring mentors and disciplers into your life that will speak truth into your life and guide you and support you.  May God heal all your hurts and fill you with a passion for Him and His work.  May God draw you close to Him and keep you steadfast on Him.  May the Holy Spirit convict you of the truth He speaks to you.  May you delight yourself in the Lord, and may the Lord give you all the desires of your heart.  May you be transformed by the renewing of your mind through the Word of God.

God loves you so much, my dear brother in Christ.  Let Him be the love of your life, the Lord of your life, and your everything. <3

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This really hit me hard because I had never known what he was going through.  I’m supposed to be his friend and sister in Christ.  But what kind of friend have I been if I never even gave him an opportunity to share his prayer requests?  I wonder how many of my brothers and sisters are going through hard times and could use some prayer and support…and I never even know…becuase I’m not there for them.

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God, please forgive me for being such a failure at being a sister in Christ.  Please give me another chance to be a better friend.  Teach me how to serve.  Please give me a love for my friends, prompt me to serve, and tune my heart to listen to the Spirit and to obey.  God, please use me, and flow Your love through me.  Amen <3

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Back in December, I went caroling with CCF at the Chinese Restaurants in China town.  It was a last minute decision for me to go, and I ended up bringing my violin along and accompanying the singing on the violin.  We went into each restaurent, sang a few songs, read a passage of scripture, and then moved on to the next restaurant.  I had fun, but I really didn’t think that we had much impact, and I didn’t think of it much again.

Today I was eating lunch, and I started talking to a guy who was a new believer.  He said that he had been searching for a while, but had just become a believer 2 weeks ago.  I asked him how he had gotten involved in DCBC.  To my amazement, he said, “I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant eating lunch in December when  a group of people from DCBC came in and sang carols.  And they invited me to come to DCBC, so I started going.”

I said, “Really?  Was there someone playing the violin?”

He said, “Yeah…”

I said, “No way!  That was me playing the violin!!”

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God is so amazing to work out these little stories that remind us that He is always working out all things for good.  It doesn’t matter if we think that what we’re doing isn’t making an impact, because we never know how God may use it to work out something AMAZING!

What am I being?  I’m so caught up in the doing.  So many things to do: go to class, study, homework, meetings to go to, responsibilities to fulfill…

But I’m not here just to check off my to do list.  I’m here to BE.  BE a disciple of Christ, BE an ambasador for His kingdom, BE a servant to those He has called me to serve.

What am I being right now?  When I stop running around and doing…who am I being?   Am I being a follower of Christ, putting Him FIRST in my thoughts, actions, life?  What am I being?

I’ve actually thought about this a lot during this past year.  Many of my friends have found new churches where they go to school, and now that I’m an adult, I don’t need to go to a church just because my parents go there.  I grew up here at DCBC, and as I got older, I began to realize that our church, just like any other church, has issues.  A church is made up of a group of imperfect people, we can’t expect any church to be perfect.  But as I have listened to gifted preachers proclaim God’s truth, fellowshipped with believers from different walks of life, and grown in my relationship with God, I have realized that DCBC hasn’t come as far in living out Christ’s commands as we should have.

I often feel as though I “don’t get anything out of” service.  Like I’m not being “spiritually fed” by the preaching.  I’ve also felt that we’re not welcoming enough or supporting the body of believers like we should be.  I think a lot of it has to do with the Chinese American culture that dominates, but I’m not making an excuse for us, because Christ’s laws should always trump our own learned culture.

So I’ve thought about finding another church that has more powerful preaching or a more united and caring congregation.  I’ve thought about finding “the right church” for me where I am fed, taken care of, and feel at home. 

But where does God want me right now?  It’s not all about me.  I feel God telling me to stay and serve.  I’ve been working with the kids here at DCBC for almost 5 years now.  I pray that God will use the relationships that I have been building up to disciple and train up the kids in His truth.   If getting fed is just about listening to convicting sermons, I can listen to podcasted sermons from amazing speakers whenever I want to.  If everyone leaves DCBC just because we are not yet as good as we could be, there would be no one left.  Yes, we can walk away if we so choose.  We can always find a better church.  But someone needs to stay, serve the church, and try to help it become more and more like the bride of Christ.

I’m not saying that everyone is called to stay.  If God calls you to go, then go!  But we should all think hard before we leave a church just because we feel it is not meeting our own needs.  Maybe God is calling you to stay.  It doesn’t really matter whether you decide to leave or stay, as long as you are certain it is what God wants for you.  For me, God is calling me to stay, right where I am, and serve Him here.  So this is the right church for me.

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“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  John 4;34

2. My dear brother, it makes me so sad when I see you so purposeless.  Why do you insist that you are happy when you’ve taken so many steps back into this suffocating apathy?  You know that I care so very much for you, and you insist that my care for you is a weakness.  Yes, I know that caring for you doesn’t do me any good at all.  But it’s NOT about doing myself good.  Dear brother, God loves you so much.  So much that when I think about it, my heart just overflows with how much LOVE God has for you, and I can’t help caring for you.  Dear brother, please stop running away.  Turn back to God.  I’m telling you, there is FREEDOM in the TRUTH!  God’s love, joy, peace, and plan for you is so much better than anything you can find in this world.  Come back to Him!  Come back to the One who has borne all suffering so that you don’t have to!  It’s not about serving God because you know He’s real.  It’s about experiencing God in such a way that His love, mercy, holiness, grace, power, and EVERYTHING about Him moves you to a place where you can’t help but surrender into His arms of love.  My dear brother, there is nothing I can do or say to change your heart.  You have to make the decision.  Turn back to God, and let Him heal your heart.  Relinquish control.  Let God change your heart. <3

My dear sister and dear brother… My heart breaks for you, and at the same time overflows with the passionate, violent, love that God has for you.  My constant prayer for you is that you would turn back to the most AWESOME love this world will ever know and that God would change your heart.  May the Holy Spirit fill you with the love and pure joy that comes from the gift of eternal life: knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.

At first I was excited, but I soon became frustrated.  I think it was because I felt as though we were not working together.  I started out playing keyboard, but by the middle of the first song, I couldn’t hear myself anymore.  When everyone joined in, the sheer volume of everyone was so overwhelming.  It seemed like everyone was playing as loud as they could to fight to be heard.  We had 2 guitars, a bass guitar, a keyboard, and at least 2 vocal mics all plugged in to the sound system and being amplified.  The drum set and djembe added to the volume.

I became frustrated because I could not hear what I was playing.  When I play an instrument, I need to hear myself so that I can know if I’m playing the right notes and adjust if necessary.  When I’m playing notes on the keyboard but can’t hear anything above the noise of everything else, I get really frustrated.  I can’t tell what I’m playing, and I feel as if it’s no use to play because anything I contribute will be lost in the overpowering noise.  I switched to guitar because I thought that I might be able to hear myself better.  No such luck.  I tried out the drums and djembe and liked those the best because I could actually hear myself.

But the whole time that we were jamming, I felt like everyone was doing their own thing.  We would pick a song, and then everyone would start playing however they liked until we eventually finished the song.  There was no communication about how we would work together on the song.  It just, “Let’s play this.  Ok?  Go!” and you’re on your own.  At least twice, the guitars started a song in a new transposed key and left the keyboard in the dust with no idea how to follow them.  And it was always everyone fighting to be heard.  We didn’t work together to make music.  It was just constantly loud: everyone playing their own way and making a very loud noise.

And because I was so frustrated by the loudness of everyone, how I couldn’t hear myself, and the lack of teamwork, my heart was not in the right place to praise God.

I wonder if this is how the body of believers looks sometimes.  I wonder.  When some of the activities that we do are not lead by the Holy Spirit and are not edifying the church, are we just a group of people doing our own thing?  When we are not transparent with each other and meeting the real needs of our brothers and sisters, are we all playing our own tune and ignoring the rest of the group?  When we are not united in one accord as the body of Christ, are we playing our own instrument as loudly as we can to be heard?  Are we, as a body of believers, leaving some people behind?  Are we creating lots of noise but no music?

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We are not fighting for the things of this world.  Our fight is in this world but not of this world.  We fight for the Eternal Kingdom that endures forever.  We are not of this world, but that doesn’t mean that we sit around waiting to go to heaven.  We must fight, here and now, for God’s Kingdom.

Though the Victory has already been won, we fight the battles day by day to advance the Eternal Kingdom that will endure forever.