How Do I Know I Am Hearing A Word From God?

Looking through some old emails, and I stumbled upon this one article that was sent by my dearest friend and spiritual mother, Libertha. I don't know for sure if this is her own writing or she got it from somewhere else. But nevertheless, it still blesses me. Thought I might share it with you and hope it will bless you too

There is no way of knowing for certain that someone is hearing from God, unless that person has been listening to God over a long period of time and then testing what he or she has heard. Such people have become accustomed to discerning God's voice (see John 10:27). There are many others, however, who think they are hearing from God when maybe they are not. How annoying are the superspiritual who always say, "God told me this--God told me that--God told me this other." It seems that their every thought is a revelation from God. God does not customarily operate that way. He speaks to us, but He does not chatter away, day in and day out, the way some people claim He does. This has been my experience, and it is the concept that is in accordance with the biblical record. 

The Bible says that we can tell if someone is a prophet by seeing if what he has said comes to pass (see Deuteronomy 18:22). That is a very pragmatic test, and it works.

A friend who purported to hear from God told me, "My second child is going to be a boy. God told me." His second child was a girl. He said, "Well, God told me that it was not second child who was going to be a boy, but the third child." His third child was a girl too. At that point I determined, That brother isn't hearing from God. It was clear: He made a statement, supposedly from God, that did not come to pass. 

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness

Ahhh..., been abandoned this blog for more than a month. Many things happened, but I wouldn't share it today. In fact, I'm preparing it as a whole story to share later.

Today, I would like to share about something I've been meditating. I also share it with my two best friends via email as our online connect group (cell group/ bible study group)

Today I'd like to invite you to meditate over a simple verse that we're all familiar with:

Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I don't know about you, but for many years I have considered this verse as a prerequisite for getting the "all these things". You know, all things we need/want in life, such as prosperity, health, job/career, future husband/wife, successful ministry, happy marriage, or just getting good marks in exams. For instance, when I only got a C or D for my exam back then, I always thought that it was because I didn't seek His kingdom first. Then I tried to read the bible more often, pray more often, get more involved in ministry, and then study hard to fulfill the "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness". Or, when I've been waiting for a  miracle for so long and there's not a single clue about it at all, I thought that it might be...because I had not sought His kingdom enough, so it has not been given to me yet. Also, when I shared to some christian friends about how I had not been successful in my study in the past, no luck in relationship, and had not got things I've been waiting for, they cited this verse for me.

So in my own paraphrase, I thought that I have to seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, in order to get all these things given to me as well. Can you see how it's twisted?

(Don't) Follow Your Heart

We are all quite familiar with the saying "just follow your heart". Probably we even give that kind of advice too when a friend asks our opinion in deciding something. But little did we know that our hearts can be deceptive. 

I will associate 'heart' here with 'feeling' or 'emotion', because it is closely related,

and of course I'm not talking about a muscular organ that circulate blood through cardiac cycle. 

Feeling is a conscious subjective experience of emotion (Wikipedia) or an emotional state of reaction, the overall quality of one's awareness, and the capacity to respond emotionally, especially with the higher emotions (Webster). Feeling is temporary, has its ups and downs. And it is very dangerous to decide something based solely on what we feel in our hearts, because it is unstable and sometimes unreliable.

I'm not talking about deciding what pizza should you choose, meat-lovers or vegetarians; which dress should you wear to the party; or which smart phone to buy. But, what about deciding something crucial in your life, such as marrying someone, choosing a major in a university, choosing a job, participating in a certain ministry, restoring a broken relationship, choosing what's best for your kid's education, moving to another town, adopting a baby, etc. which has the long lasting impact or probably even eternal?

One Little Step at A Time

Sabtu lalu gue ketemuan sama salah seorang adik di youth ministry dulu, si Echa, dan dia nulis jg blog ttg pertemuan ini, tapi beda topik, haha. Lalu kami makan2, ngobrol2, saling menanyakan kabar kami masing2, dan kabar temen2 kami yg laen. At some point I was overwhelmed by the fact that some of our friends (who used to serve The Lord together with us) have chosen the path that we don't understand as a follower of Christ. Some chose to yoke with unbelievers, and some have been compromising with the world in some areas of life. Tapi dapat disimpulkan bahwa dua hal yang menjadi major issue nya adalah "pekerjaan" dan "teman hidup". Dua hal ini yang membuat banyak orang stumble and drifted from their tracks. Dua hal ini emang sensitif, bisa membuat orang semakin jauh, ato semakin dekat dgn Tuhan. Dan puji Tuhan, ini dua hal yang gue gak punya saat ini, hahaha :D. Perfect! But I will have them someday though.

But eniwei, sepanjang hari itu aku terus bertanya-tanya sama Tuhan. "koq bisa ya Tuhan, koq bisa", "padahal kan dulu mereka bla bla bla", "padahal kan dulu sama-sama pernah mengalami perjumpaan dgn Engkau", "padahal kan...dst..dst..dst.", "aku gak habis pikir Tuhan, kalo mereka bisa kayak gtu, gue yang tdk lbh kuat dari mereka ini pun tidak fail-proof donk", " koq bisa ya mereka mengingkari sendiri apa yang dulu mereka percayai?",  "trus gimana Tuhan biar gak menyimpang dari track Mu?"

It is not good for man to be alone

Sorry, most of this article is written in Bahasa Indonesia, and it's not about finding the right life-partner :D


Sengaja judulnya itu, soalnya pasti mengundang perhatian kamyu-kamyu yang lagi mencari pewahyuan ato sekedar seneng baca sesuatu yang berbau Teman Hidup :D.

Who doesn’t know that famous scripture? Hayo ngacung yang belom pernah denger ayat ini!!!!

“It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him (Genesis 2:18, NLT)”.

Yup, kita sering mendengar kutipan ayat tersebut kalo orang lagi bicara soal teman hidup. But this time, my friend, I will share and unfold something bigger than just finding-the-right-partner context. Eitss..., jangan kecewa dulu. If you bear with me, you will uncover something greater. So, are you ready???

Daddy's girl

I always enjoy spending my time with my Dad. Yes, I’m my daddy’s girl. He loves to involve me in his activities; from gardening, feeding our fish in the pond, delivering fish to customers (my dad run a small business in fishery), doing a sudoku puzzle (random), to catching up with his old friends (though i don’t know them). He enjoyed my companion, and I enjoyed his. He also taught me how to drive and encourage me to be brave. When I did something wrong, he warned me. But if I did something right, he gladly praise me and said he was proud of me. Although I don’t have any job yet, my Dad was still proud of me and didn’t feel ashamed when he met his friends and introduced his ‘jobless’ daughter to them. It makes me pondering, my Dad just proud of me for who I am, not only for my achievements.

I’m so blessed I have this beautiful relationship with my earthly Dad. It helps me to have a great relationship with my heavenly Father as well. My earthly Dad is a great Dad, but God, my heavenly Father is even more... He is the best.

Eloi...Eloi...lama sabachthani?

Well, if you're a christian, pasti gak asing lg dengan ungkapan ini, "Eloi...Eloi..., lama sabachthani?" yg artinya, "Allahku, Allahku, mengapa Engkau meninggalkan aku?"
Dulu, aku pikir Yesus mengungkapkan itu karena Bapa meninggalkan Dia ketika Dia disalib menanggung dosa-dosa manusia. Dulu aku pikir Yesus meneriakkan itu karena saat itu Bapa memalingkan wajahNya dari Dia sebab Dia penuh dgn dosa2 yg menjijikkan, which is dosa2 kita yg ditanggungnya. Hmmm....,have you ever thought the same thing as mine? :p

Last Sunday nite mesage at church was completely blown my mind away. It's like a new revelation for me. Ketika Yesus bilang "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani", maksudnya adalah Dia merefer pada Mazmur 22, the whole context. Pernah terpikirkan gak, siapa orang2 yg waktu itu menghadiri penyaliban Yesus? Yes, we know there were His mother, John, and other disciples. Tapi jgn lupa bahwa disana ada orang-orang Farisi, serdadu-serdadu, dan orang-orang Yahudi lainnya yang nota bene hafal hukum taurat dan kitab-kitab perjanjian lama di luar kepala. Jaman dulu, perjanjian lama ini gak ada pasal dan ayatnya. So, instead of bilang "Mazmur 22", Yesus mengutip 1st verse dari chapter itu. Dengan kata lain, ketika Yesus bilang "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?", orang-orang yg ada dsitu langsung connect dan tau bahwa Yesus me-refer pada Mazmur 22. Nah, apa isi Mazmur 22? coba baca...

A moment of destiny

Once upon an ordinary day, a teenage shepherd boy was requested by his Dad to bring some sandwiches to his brothers in the front line of battle. When he arrived in the battlefield, he saw terrified armies of Israel taunted by a giant. Fearlessly, he come forth and face this giant when nobody else had courage to stand. He came in the name of his God, and with a slingshot he defeated his enemy. That day was his moment, a shepherd boy who later become King David.