outrageous: this is total disrespect! - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today (30-days challenge)

I'm not talking about myself being disrespectful - even though I can't say I'm not(sometimes)... - but I'm talking about someone else being disrespectful. You would think that in a modern world people respect one another since there's so much propaganda about emancipation, feminism, equality in rights, no racism, no distinction between nationalities or races, no bullying, or even the principle of "no slaves and no masters". In the 21st century, with so many systems and policies in place - all of which are to help man relate to others in the best way possible - the people today are still very much inclined to be rather rude and disrespectful than polite and respectful. I'll tell you why and how in a bit via,

Outrageous: this is total disrespect! - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today

After I finished work today - yes, I do work half day on Saturday... - I was passing by an "open market", many of which are available all over London these days. You get fresh vegetables there, different kinds of cheeses, all types of foods (Carribean, Argentinian, continental European, Mediteranean, etc), all sorts of bread products and milk based products, etc. This one I was passing by was a small one, but there was something there that caught my attention - some nice vegetables!

Yes, I know you know I love Pepsi ;) and I need to cut it short - why not rather drink the pure water which can actually quench your thirst?!? - but it may surprise you that I also love vegetables! Probably because of the way I was brought up, I love having a salad on the side with almost anything - even when eating pizza, KFC, fish and chips(or any other fast-food/unhealthy dish), or a sandwich, bread with stuff, or any "second dish" in a meal. I love tomatoes, cucumbers, salad, radish, corn, cabbage, etc. I love both to buy them separately and make them in a salad AND the ones ready-made from the stores...

Anyways, to cut the story short, there was this lady who was selling nice vegetables, and I approached her to ask about the price, but she would not pay attention to me. She was engaged in a relatively meaningless conversation with another person who was selling some cheese,s and even though I tried to get her attention, she would not talk to me. I waited a bit, tried again - nothing. This is outrageous - I'm the customer, she's the seller, she traveled all the way here to sell her vegetables, and when I am interested to buy, she wouldn't talk to me! This is total disrespect...

The Customer is Always Right and the customer should always be served... - since I work in sales, I know this and, though I may not like it all the time, I apply this principle... So I went and took out some cash, calling on the name of the Lord to really touch Him within... You know, you can be offended or bothered by situations like these. Or if not, maybe they give you a bad taste, they disappoint you... I just called on the Lord's name, took out some cash, and returned to the lady - who now smilingly served me and was OK to sell me some vegetables :) [the story ended up well :) ]

I was thinking about this after it happened... so many little things can bother us or even offend us. What do we do then? Many people say, I'm FINE, It's Alright! - but something within feels uncomfortable, and there's a discontentment being built up over the days, months, and years... You never know how and why but out of the blue someone "explodes" and starts arguing with someone else. It's these little things, these little unconfessed and undealt with issues, that build up and eventually overflow from us.

The people in the world are bitter, disrespectful, not polite, and rude - because NO ONE is nice to one another! How can anyone be nice to others in a genuine way if he does not enjoy the Lord who is GOOD and can be the proper human being in us? Maybe some are nice outwardly, so "polite and respectful" - but when you get to talk to them to know them, there's nothing there, it's just a facade - the "British politeness" is very common especially in England (dah!). What about us though?

Lord, what about me? Am I a bitter, unpolite, and disrespectful person? O, Lord, is there bitterness being built up in me as I go on in life? Lord, what's my attitude towards other people?

One very important principle is that we as human beings and as believers in the Lord need to have a proper fear and respect towards God. If we fear God in our humanity, we will also respect others who are around us. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The more we spend time with the Lord, the more He shines on us and exposes us, the more we both love Him and reverently fear Him. This preserves us and protects us from many evils that can happen to human beings - the proper fear and respect towards God safeguards us against the evil one.

So.... as a customer I may be RIGHT and I can try to prove my point, get the seller's attention, argue a bit, make a big case out of it... or just "sweep it under the rug" saying, It's all good... But I can also choose to turn to my spirit and call on the name of the Lord. I can open to Him and confess my situation and my feelings... - and then something happens. It's not just that "I will be OK", but my attitude towards that person will be a proper one, a kind attitude and a good demeanor. O, Lord.... save us more in these little things of our human life!

contacting God in our spirit and confessing our sins(college meeting) - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today (30-day challenge)

Even though the university has not yet started in the UK - it starts on the 1st of October - today we had our first "monthly college meeting" with the students and A level saints + the burdened saints. So good to be together again and see the saints! It is so refreshing and revitalizing to meet with the saints at the end of the week, even on a Friday night. You may be tired, filled with all kinds of stuff, wearied, or even feeling wore out... but then you get yourself into the meeting and the next thing you know you praise the Lord and enjoy Him with the other God-men who "call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart"(2 Tim. 2:22).

If it would be you, what would be the first thing you need to get into and emphasize, when it comes to "working for the Lord", "serving the Lord", "preaching the gospel", or even in doing your best to do something for the Lord? It may be some special skills or guide on how to speak to people, maybe some more Bible verses to memorize, some more Bible knowledge, some organizing of things, practical matters, organizing an event.... Well, we started today as Christians on the Campus - that's right, we are Christian Students at University :) - with getting into,

A Deeper Understanding of Prayer - Confessing our sins and Contacting God - One Meaningful Thing I Did Today

What is prayer? Is prayer just asking God for things or telling God to do things for us? Is prayer just bringing our problems to God? Is the real meaning of prayer being us talking to God and Him listening to us? Is prayer a one-way conversation where we talk to God about anything? Why is prayer so important? ... tonight we saw a deeper meaning of prayer - as brother Nee said,

Why do we work so much and pray so little when we can accomplish much more by our prayer than by our work? 

Before we do anything for God, we need to pray! Our work needs to issue out of a life of prayer with the Lord. Instead of working much, we should pray much... but what is prayer? First of all, the real significance of prayer is to contact God in our spirit and to absorb God Himself! To pray is to contact God with our human spirit - since God is Spirit - and to absorb God(John 4:24). The first thing we need to know about prayer is that it is a matter of the spirit - our mingled spirit! When we want to pray, we just need to turn to our spirit! And that's where everything happens - in our spirit!

What we all notice is that whenever we turn to the Lord in our spirit, He shines on us and exposes us - we see how sinful we are, we see how much we live our life without the Lord, and we see how many things we do that displease Him. In the Lord's light in this way we can confess our sins - and the Lord is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from any unrighteousness(1 John 1:7-9). How can we pray to the Lord and absorb Him into us if we have guilt in our conscience - if our conscience accuses us of our sin? We need to break through - every morning we need to Confess Our Sins!

This is the first thing - we need to agree with the Lord's light when He shines on us! As human beings in rebellion against God and as sinners, we don't really like the Lord's light - we try to stay away from the light, from the Lord's shining, because it exposes us. But when we come to the Lord as we are, He shines on us and we can confess our sins! When we confess our sins, when we agree with what the Lord exposes, He forgives us, cleanses us, and He FORGETS about it! Praise the Lord, when it comes to "remembering our sins", God has "amnesia": He can't remember them anymore!

Confessing our sins is a matter we practice every day - so that we may have a clear conscience, a conscience void of offense. What we really want is to touch God and contact Him, to absorb Him and be infused with Him - and for this we deal with anything that's in the way! Once we touch God through prayer, through an intimate conversation with Him, we can receive His element into us! We then need to talk to Him - this is the real conversation with God! You can tell Him everything - He's your Friend, He's there to listen to you, to understand you thoroughly, and to comfort you.... And as we open to Him to "give Him our problems", He gives us more of Himself: He infuses us with His very element!

Praise the Lord - we can contact God in our spirit by simply confessing our sins and then conversing with Him! Sometimes in the morning or during the day we even need to tell the Lord, "Lord, make my heart happy in You! I'm NOT HAPPY, LORD!" - admit to it. We may put on a happy face, have a joke ready, something funny to say, but inside we're not happy. We need the Lord as JOY Himself to make this verse real to us "the joy of the Lord is my strength"(Neh. 8:10). The Lord will definitely listen to prayers like these,

Lord, make my heart happy in You, so that I may also make others' hearts happy in You! Lord, warm up my heart towards You that I may love You! I need You, Lord!

We just need to be open and genuine with the Lord. He knows us anyways - and He knows whether we try to cover up things or sugar-coat our prayer. We can't really lie to the Lord - even if we pass the "human lie-detector", the Lord knows our inner being, and He knows our heart. That's why we need to be honest with the Lord will bring about the Lord's blessing and His presence. The more honest you are with the Lord, the more honest and genuine you become as a human being.

And you know what? When you're honest with the Lord - just as when you're honest with your spouse or your best friend - He opens up His heart to you and tells you what's on His heart. How about that! All we do is agree with the Lord's light and open to Him, confessing our sins, touching Him, talking to Him, being in His presence... and He imparts His heart's desire into us! O, the prayers that we will pray then! Not just BOLD PRAYERS and COMMANDING PRAYERS, but even prayers that will move God's hand to accomplish His will! When we become one with the Lord in this way there's no limit to what the Lord can pray in us...