Praying with a Muslim Part II – Friend of God

Mar26

Those of you who have been following this blog for awhile know that about a month and a half ago I had the opportunity to pray with a Muslim co-worker. You can read the original post here. What you may not know, is that these prayers have continued and my relationship with this co-worker has deepened during this time.

As a devout Muslim, my co-worker has to pray at least five times a day at specific times. There are relatively few places she can do this where we work. Since I have one of the few offices, and the only truly private office in the building she comes to do these prayers in my office a few times a week. While she prays to Allah, I pray in the name of Jesus. My prayers are focused on one thing – her salvation. I pray for Jesus to reveal Himself to her. I pray that she will feel the Holy Spirit moving in my office. I pray that she will get a revelation of who He is.

On Friday she came in for her mid-afternoon prayers and I sat next to her praying to Jesus. After she finished praying she looked at me in a way I have never seen her look at me. She had this amazed and almost bewildered look on her face. Then she said in a sort of confused tone, “You are not Muslim, but I think God told me you are His friend. I don’t think I’m His friend, but I think you’re His friend.”

This truly was amazing! I don’t feel much like God’s friend with all the mistakes I’ve been making lately, but I do believe God was trying to tell her something. Is it possible that He was trying to convey to her that I know Him in a way that she doesn’t? Perhaps if she believes I am His friend, she will be more open to listening to what I have to say about Him.

I believe He is slowly revealing Himself to her and I have faith that He is going to transform her life. Will you believe God with me? Will you pray for my Muslim friend to come to know that Jesus is her Savior? I am looking forward to the day when she will declare that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

In His Love,

Rebekah L

Being Isaac: A Buddhist turns to Jesus

Mar10

Editor’s Note: Our weekly guest spot is our effort to help our reading community connect with each other. “Being Isaac” is in response to our growing number of male readers. We think it’s important that there’s a male reply to our female’s call to live in passionate pursuit of Christ. Thanks Isaac H for submitting this great post that shares your personal story with all our readers!

I was born and raised Buddhist in the country of Taiwan. English is not my native language so forgive me for how terrible is my English. Growing up I never expect I would become the Christian. This never cross my mind. As a child I was taught worship idol. We had idols in my home and we went to temple and worship idols there. We had a lot of fear to make the gods upset or to dishonor ancestor and make them become hungry ghost. In my country we believe if you not worship ancestor after they died and give them sacrifice of food and money, they will become the hungry ghost and bring the misfortune to your life.

But I thank God that He sought to rescue me from this bondage of idol worship and fear. One day God send me a dream. The dream was to go to America. I did not know this was God send me this dream, but because the dream I decide apply to the school in Boston. I did not know this would changing my whole life. When I was there I met Rebekah L. She showed me what is love of Jesus. She show me not have to live in fear or superstition. It take me a very long time to believe Jesus. I did not reject Him, but I was afraid to leave my old tradition behind. Rebekah L did not give up on me and she continue to pray for my soul. I thank God!

When I graduated from school I went back home to Taiwan. The family problem and the old life try to keep me from believe Jesus. But Jesus would not give up on me. He keep reaching for me. My family did not want me to become the Christian. They fought very hard to keep me in the old tradition. They are afraid when they die they will be the hungry ghost because if I’m Christian I not will worship them or burn the paper money for them. But I know that God is real. There is only one God! He came as a man, Jesus. He die on the cross for my sin. He raise again and we have opportunity and gift to eternal life if we believe Him and follow to Him! I will never worship idol again. I will only worship ONE True God.

It can be hard to be a Christian in this country, but it is worth every struggle. God has never leave me. I know He will never give up on me. I know my life’s purpose now is to worship Him, to live for Him, and to reach the lost sheeps in my country for Him. Please pray for my country Taiwan. Please pray for my people. They are spiritually blind. They not can see the truth. The truth is Jesus die not just for American, Jesus die for Taiwanese too. Who has God call you to reach? We all are called to be the witness. Let’s reach the world for HIM!

Isaac H lives in Taiwan and loves playing with his daughter while living for Christ with all he has.

Published with the permission of the author. Submit your own post at beingrebekah@outlook.com.

Identity in Christ

Mar5

Definition of Identity:

1) The fact of being who or what a person or thing is.

2) A close similarity or affinity.

I have spent the last few years on a journey of discovering who I am. It started with uncovering a family secret in 2009 that the man who raised me may not actually be my biological father. Worse than this discovery was finding out that the man suspected of being my father was the person in my life who had wounded me more deeply than any other human being on this earth. Emotionally this put me in a tailspin. As a result I started down a path to try to gain a sense of identity. In the last few months I have done extensive research on my family tree and a few days ago received the results of a DNA test to help answer some of these questions. The outcome of this test gave me more questions than answers.

The results of this test were not exactly what I wanted. In talking about it with my godfather he said that sometimes it’s better not to know. He is right, but it’s in our human nature to want to understand where we come from and why things happened the way they did. But I thank God that He has given me peace in this situation. The Lord has held me through every fear and comforted me through my tears. He is my true Father!

I Praise the Lord for His revelation to me that my identity does not lie in bloodlines and broken promises, my identity rests in Jesus Christ! 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Where I come from is not important, it’s where I am going!

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

When we are baptized in Jesus Name, we take on His name! We enter into a relationship with Him and from then on we get to use the family name. What a privilege it is to be able to call ourselves Christians! He is our perfect father. He takes care of us, provides our needs, He helps us to grow and even disciplines as we need it because of His enduring love. When we receive His spirit we are freed from the bondage of the enemy and we receive the “spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).

“Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

I want to be so wrapped up in God that it is obvious to everyone that I meet that I belong to Him! I want people to know that I am His child. I want my identity to rest firmly in Him! I want to encourage all of our readers to embrace your Christian identity. There is nothing greater than the salvation He offers us, but beyond that we have received something so special from God; we have received the right to call him Daddy!

In His Love,

Rebekah L.

Guest Spot: MJ- “Unable to Pray”

Feb24

Editor’s Note: Our weekly guest spot is our effort to help our reading community connect with each other. MJ’s loss of prayer in her daily life is such a comment occurrence. Many of us have multiple things to juggle and falling out of daily prayer can happen so quietly that we don’t see it until it’s been months. Thank God for His wonderful mercy and grace that He just loves us and hugs us when we start communing with Him again! Read on for her journey- and thank you for sharing MJ! ~Rebekah M.

I did not pray for almost four months. I did not consciously decide to stop praying, I just did.I was pregnant with my first child, and at 28 weeks I was placed on complete and total bed-rest. I.e., Isolation City. I was very compliant but still I was induced at 36 weeks and my son spent the first week of his life in the NICU. Afterwards they told me not to take him out for two more months. Translation = four months of Isolation City.

You would think that with all that extra time I would have had dynamic prayer times, but somehow I could not bring myself to pray. Maybe I was angry at God because it had taken me so long to get pregnant and when I finally did, I got preeclampsia. All the other pregnant women I knew could eat whatever they wanted. But me, I am placed on a strict diet, and still gained 75 pounds; 14 of those pounds being gained in just one week. Maybe I was depressed from all the isolation. In reality the reason itself does not matter, it just matters that I stopped praying.

A few months later I began to pray again, little by little. At first I would just read aloud a prewritten prayer from “The Divine Hours”, a fixed-hour prayer book (link below). It would take me literally 3 minutes, and it really was a struggle to give those 3 minutes. But God took those 3 minutes and used them to draw me to Himself.

6 months after I gave birth, I decide to do a Bible Study on the book of Acts. If you have ever read the book of Acts, you can guess what happened next. Maybe I subconsciously knew and that is why I choose that particular study. But let’s just say the Holy Spirit woke me up!It was as if scales fell out of my eyes, and for the first time I was able to REALLY understand the Bible. The more I read, the more I craved to read the Word, I could not get enough.

I remember saying a prayer when I was 12 that went something like this: “Lord, no matter how far I go, no matter what I do, always bring me back to You, as my biggest desire is to follow You.” And God has been good on His end of the bargain. Once again He brought me back to Himself.

If you are foreign to the concept of personal prayer, don’t worry, God does not despise small beginnings. He will take what you have to give and draw you to Himself. He can use even a 3 minute prewritten prayer to transform a life.

“Of all the seeds it (the mustard seed) is the smallest, but when it has grown it is the largest of the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and find shelter in its branches.” (Matthew 13:32)

Being Christian – Loving God, Loving People

Feb19

I have a bit of a confession to make: I have no idea how to be a Christian. I mean, it seems simple enough; believe Jesus. But that’s really just the beginning. That’s what it takes to wear the label, but how we actually live out our Christianity from day to day isn’t so easy.

The Bible is full of wisdom and instruction on the subject and though I’ve committed to live by its principles I still find myself floundering at times. I wonder if I’ll ever get it right. And therein lies the problem. I’m entirely too self-focused. It’s not about me perfecting the rules and regulations, it’s about letting God transform me from the inside out. It’s really His work. I just have to be willing to lay my old man down and allow Him to create me anew.

When it comes down to it, being a Christian is really about loving God and loving people. It’s not about looking inward; it’s looking up to God and out to the people. We’re servants. We’re here to serve God and to honor God by serving others.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. –Matthew 22:37-39

When we really love God we are willing to decrease so that He can increase (John 3:30). We will strive to do what He asks of us (John 14:15). When we really love God we will love people (John 13:35). When we really love people, we will have a burden to reach them for the Lord! This is true Christianity.

Lord, help me to love you better. Help me to love your people better. Help me to believe you for every area of my Christian walk. Teach me how to follow after you with everything I have. Guide me on the path and show me how to be a true Christian. I struggle with how to best to represent you. I don’t know how to do the things I know I should do, but you are a merciful patient teacher, and I thank you for that. Thank you for your unending love.

In His Love,

Rebekah L.

Prayer Monday: PRAISE!!!!!

Feb11

Jesus,

I’m SO excited to share this news with the readers: YOU GAVE ME MY FIRST CHOICE RESIDENCY PROGRAM!!!!! Thank You Jesus!!! Thank You that You truly do reward us when we just hold on to You!!! Thank You that You have given me favor!!! Thank You that You have ordered my steps!!! Thank You that there is none like You!!! Thank You Jesus… I cannot sing or yell your praises enough!!! Thank You Jesus!!! Thank You Thank You Thank You THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!!!!!!! all the hours of tears, fears, and doubt… You carried me when I couldn’t handle things any longer!!! You are SUCH a wonderful, loving, good God!!!!! Thank You doesn’t cover it all… my heart is overflowing with gratitude!!! I love You Jesus SO MUCH! Thank You for this life!!! Thank You for everything You have given me! Help me remember that if you can bring THIS to pass, you can take care of everything else! Help me drop the rest of my doubts and just trust You!

Oh Jesus, Thank You!!! I just can’t stop it!! I PRAISE YOU LORD! I WORSHIP YOU JESUS!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

With all of my grateful, adoring heart,

Rebekah M.

Song of the Day: Hear Us from Heaven

Dec28

With so much going on this holiday season I can’t help but feel like I’m allowing myself to slip a little. Distractions get to me and I just don’t always seek Him as I should. This song feels like God’s beckoning to my soul. Seek Him again so that He can open the blind eyes, unlock the deaf ears, and touch our generation.

Hear us from heaven Jesus. Hear our cry of our souls. Heal us and our land. Jesus, so many souls are hurting in this time when people should be celebrating family together they mourn their broken homes. They mourn their broken lives. Working in the ER I have witnessed first hand how much people’s pain can become more than just mental pain. Jesus… heal us in this broken nation. In this nation that has lost it’s commitment to marriage and family. It’s commitment to You and Your ways. Heal us Jesus! Heal us oh Lord who IS love itself. Jesus, I thank You for those who have family and can rejoice with them. I pray now that You will help open the eyes to the hurting that You are holding them! You are with them now! God… if there is someone reading this right now that You’ve been crying out to that You want to help mend their hurt and broken hearts… I pray they hear You now! You want them to feel Your love. You want them to know they can have a new life in You. Bless oh Jesus. Bless these dear readers with love and healing.

In His love,

Rebekah M.

Praise Report!!! Hope Where there Seemed No Hope!

Dec14

Dear readers who have been following my journey- God may have provided a way of escape for me! Having just posted my post last night about Freedom and praising Him despite my fears and doubts and letting them fall away, I received an email this morning from one of my top choices today saying that they would still rank me despite my current situation!!! I have hope!!! Even better- it came AFTER my praise and worship!!! WOW! Wonderful God that He gave me the chance to show true trust and faith in Him! This journey isn’t over yet, but I have hope of truly becoming a doctor and working at a place that I enjoy!!! Wonderful, wonderful Savior, thank You for hope!!!

Rebekah M.

Nothing Less

Dec12

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” ~Romans 12:2

“What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” ~ Romans 6:1-2

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” ~ 2 Corinthians 5:20-21

We are only human. I hear that all the time. We try, we fail, we get up and fall again. We sin. We are only human. But lately I’ve been really feeling like this isn’t a valid excuse. Like we’re selling ourselves short somehow by chalking our mistakes up to our humanity. Like we’re selling God short somehow.

When it comes down to it, we were delivered from sin. We were delivered and are now asked to be perfect (Matthew 5:48). I’ve never thought much about this verse before. I always just figured ‘we are inherently imperfect’ and left it at that. But God brought it to my attention yesterday. Would He have asked it of us if it was completely unachievable? I get it; we’re sinners. But we were also delivered. With the death of Jesus came the deliverance of us. Not only that, but when Jesus ascended to heaven, in his stead came the Holy Spirit. Jesus called it the Counselor and the Advocate, to reside inside of us and guide our choices. Here’s where we get a little theological. Depending on your denomination, you might view the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God as more separate entities comprising the Holy Trinity, or you may literally see them as interchangeable. Either way, everyone agrees to a point that all three parts of the trinity are God in various forms.

I personally view them as pretty much the same, but for purposes of this post, the difference is this: Jesus walked among us, and sacrificed for us. The Holy Spirit resides inside of us. Yet both are God. Which means that God is inside of us. All of the love and compassion and righteousness that was Jesus Christ on this earth, is now alive and well and here. It’s within us. We were given this precious gift, a gift we could never possibly hope to earn. Why? So that we can sit here and say “well, I’m only human…..”. Somehow, I don’t think that was quite the idea. I think we were meant to embrace this gift, to overcome our humanity (so to speak) and be a true vessel of this perfect righteousness we were given. It’s the classic ‘less of me, more of You’ desire. We humans are imperfect, inherently sinners. The Holy Spirit is perfect and righteous. One is inside the other, and we have do control over which one prevails.

I have a friend who has recently returned back from a missions trip to Africa. Her life was changed forever as she saw how open people were there to spiritual experiences and how freely God was allowed to move. Her facebook status the other day was “Jesus, how you’ve wounded me for anything less than You”. It exactly summed up my feelings lately.

I want a heart that truly knows the bright light and beauty of Jesus. I know that He outshines anything I see here on earth. I want a heart that is so attuned to Him, that knows my savior so well, that even the most beautiful and tantalizing temptations of this earth appear to be nothing more than trash on the side of the street when compared to His glory. I want a heart that desires, truly desires, the things that God desires – not the things that the world offers. I want a heart that is so passionate for Christ, that is so led by the Holy Spirit within me, that I don’t give those earthly temptations a second glance, because they just don’t look appealing. I want a heart that will settle for nothing less than Jesus.

But I’m only human….imperfect…so can I get my heart to be in that place? The more I looked into it, the more I realized that yes I can. We all can. We don’t have to settle for the human condition. God gave us salvation for eternity, but he also gave us a way to overcome the flesh now. We can do it. Maybe it’s moment to moment. Maybe we won’t be always perfect from here on out for the rest of our lives – but in theory, we could be. In the sacrifice of Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, God gave us the tools we need to live by His righteousness. All of it.

In fact, it’s asked of us. God specifically tells us to be perfect. To not continue sinning. To live righteously. I’ve even heard it preached that because God poured out His righteousness into us, and then gave us free will, that God is only as righteous as the human vessel. I think that statement is something of a misrepresentation, but I agree with the sentiment. We were made into vessels. We were given this gift. It’s up to us to allow God to move, both within us and around us.

And if we do it right, it shouldn’t be “I’m only human”. It shouldn’t be “this is so hard to ignore” or “I want ____ but I know I really shouldn’t.” Instead, it should be “I have Jesus; why would I want ____?” It should be a heart that literally settles for nothing less than the fullness of Christ Himself.

Jesus, help me to stop masking You with my humanity. Help me to stop getting in the way of the Holy Spirit and blaming it on the fact that I’m inherently a sinner. Give me a heart that is fully focused and centered on You and You alone, and is so in love with You that nothing on this earth even comes close to fulfilling my heart’s desire. Show me how to get to the place where you are my true desire. Show me how to shed myself on an even deeper level, so that all is left in me is You. Show me how to abide in You and walk with You in a way that makes me not even visible to the world anymore, but instead lets your light shine out of me. Help me to seek nothing less than You. I love you with everything I have and all that I am.

I know this might be a kind of controversial post. I haven’t completely worked through it all yet I don’t think. It’s just what I’ve been feeling lately, and what I feel like God is telling me. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it too, either in a comment or privately at being.rebekah.a@gmail.com.

God bless!

~Rebekah A

Unexpected Blessings: Concerts and Policemen

Nov14

Concerts:

Tonight, I got to go to the concert of a conductor friend of mine. He has worked so hard to get to where he is today. It was amazing to me that I was there for his very first performance back in high school and today, I was able to see him conduct a powerful group of singers in a prestigious music program. My how far we can go! I was unsure if I should take time away from church (my last service here in this city) to go, but then on my way I felt God tell me it was okay. Low and behold, the last song was about putting our hands to the plow, holding on, and moving forward. The vocals were phenomenal- it reminded me that God’s creation is so amazing and perfect. That JUST voices could create such a beautiful, powerful sound struck me with awe for His great ways. To top it off with lyrics that hold such meaning…. what a blessing where I was least expecting it!!!

Policemen:

All my life I struggled with self esteem issues until Ex #1 broke up with me, I went on an over 2 month fast, and God transformed me so completely from the inside out that I realized it was GOD esteem that mattered. It doesn’t matter what I look like on the outside, and yet I realized that God made me beautiful. I saw who GOD saw me as and so it mattered more that I was praying than grooming time did. I cared more for thinking of what things pleased Him than I did about how I could do things to please guys in how they saw me. When I looked in the mirror all I saw was that God created me beautiful. Lately, I’ve felt fat. I’d look in the mirror and for some reason, even though I haven’t gone up a size in clothes yet, all I see is the fatness.

Tonight, as I was walking back to my room at the hospital (I’m living in the hospital this month), one of the policemen that guard the ER asked me out. He was tall, good looking, and straight up stopped me to ask me out- my kind of guy! It was just so assuring because it felt like to me that Jesus was saying “see? You are still beautiful, even when you don’t see it. I will bring you a husband… in MY timing.” For along with the feelings of physical ugliness, I just starting wishing I had a husband. My brain would ruminate over the fact that Ex #1 is married (while I am not), so many other people are married, and so many others are also having kids and sending them to pre-school etc. etc. etc.

I want a family that lives for Jesus. I want a husband who will lead us all on this journey towards Christ with a passion for the God of creation. I want a man who will be a father to our children, a prayer partner that connects with my spirit, and a friend who gets my soul. I also realized I’m pretty superficial and hope he’s CUTE! haa! Is my definition of cute the same as everyone else’s? Not always. haa haa! And this policeman was certainly good looking in my book! So I think Jesus was just saying- wait some more on ME, my child. Wait.

Jesus,

Thank You for these unexpected blessings. Thank You for things to make me smile and soothe my weary soul. Thank You for Your goodness and mercy. Thank You for reminding me You find me beautiful. Give me strength to just WAIT. I love You Jesus with all my heart.

Rebekah M.

BTW- for those wondering, I told him I was moving tomorrow (because I am) so I wouldn’t be able to go on a date with him… it was still a nice way to end my day though