revelations

I feel very enlightened, I really do.
it's amazing how God answers prayers so subtly.
yet I know that it's Him.
today, or rather tonight, was a night of revelations.
I'm truly amazed at how much I learned through a discussion with the cellgroup, mainly Timo.
let's review the revelations:

1. We are nothing
2. We know nothing
3. There's no predestiny
4. There's no THE ONE for you



Revelation 1
we are really absolutely nothing compared to God.
(this is linked to the lyrics of the song Who Am I by Casting Crowns - scroll down to one of the previous posts this month called "music")
how can we ever ever fathom His love?
or worse still, think we have already understood how He's like?
there's no way.
God created the universe and all the things in it.
We can't even understand the universe, let alone its Creator
He loves us so much that He blesses us umpteen times
I mean how amazing is that?
talk about unconditional love.
we are nothing, yet He chose us over all other things
He chose to save us even as there was a sacrifice involved
this just lifts Him higher.
so much higher that right now, we are even smaller than we used to be.
we are but specks compared to Him.
that's how awesome He is (:



[this is where i really started going wrong and as Timo was clearing doubts, the buzzers were going off in my mind]
Revelation 2
We know nothing, really
the worst part is that we think we do
we jump at the chance to proclaim our own self-righteousness
but do we really know what it's all about?
do we really, truly know the way?
truth is, as much as we delude ourselves that we do, we don't
think we know everything in the universe?
*BUZZER SOUNDS:DEHHHHH*
no.
how then would we know everything there is to know about the Creator of the universe?
this is why we are forever learning more about God
after knowing this, I feel the hunger to learn more about Him, more than before.
our christian life should be constantly developing
I was so humbled upon hearing this from Timo
It made me think back to when I first came for cellgroup
I came in thinking that I would be somewhat on the same level as them, having ever gone through Bible study
*BUZZER SOUNDS:DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH*
I was so wrong
I remember feeling overwhelmed
even back then, God was hinting at this realisation just that I never thought about it till Timo brought it up.
our christian life should be anything but monotonous and static.
our walk with God should come first.
we have to ensure that we're walking right with God before launching into learning more.
non-Christians can memorise every passage in the Bible but if they're not Christians, their knowledge is nothing.
even Christians who are just Christians in name: it all amounts to nothing.
it's only at times after people have been somewhat enlightened to this, like what i underwent just now, that it strikes them how ignorant they are.
We don't know it all
I am still ignorant, still learning, but at least I'm aware.



Revelation 3
What is predestiny?
It means that someone has already planned your life out for you.
*BUZZER SOUNDS:DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH*
It's a theory with a gaping loophole: what about our failures?
You mean someone planned that we'd fail - and we did?
Nahhhh
God has a will and He has His plan for us.
HERE'S THE REVELATION: HE GAVE US THE CHOICE WHETHER OR NOT TO FOLLOW HIS WILL
He placed freewill over predestiny.
He's all powerful and He could have willed us to do things the way He wanted it with a snap of a finger.
But the amazing thing is HE DIDN'T.
He allowed us to decide.
HERE'S ANOTHER REVELATION: HE KNEW WHAT OUR CHOICE WAS GOING TO BE
question: then why didn't He stop me from making all those mistakes?
Timo's analogy:
Let's say you're on the edge of a cliff.
God's telling you: don't jump
But you chose to go against that and jump.
HE GAVE US THE CHOICE WHETHER WE WANTED TO LISTEN TO HIM OR NOT
We can actually do anything we like, it's a matter of whether or not we choose to do what's in line with His will
Just like drinking alcohol.
We can drink alcohol.
But we choose not to because we know what the consequences can be like.
So God knows the end result of everything we're gonna do, in line with His will or not.
He gives us the option of deviating.
And even if we choose to not go according to His will, He'll choose to bless us
That's why we pray: God, guide me towards a decision in line with Your will.
It's why we put Him and His will above all else.
then what about people who drifted and came back: did God know they were coming back?
He knew exactly when we would but He still threw opportunities at us even before that
That proves how much He wanted us to come back into His embrace
then what about people who never did come back to God?
believe it or not, He knew whether we were gonna be Christian or not, how we were gonna live.
to non-Christians, He still continuously threw opportunities their way even as they rejected Him so many times
And He continues to do so till the day they're gone.
He left it up to us.
that is one of the infinte number of amazing things God's willing to do for us.
Timo mentioned this and it struck me: God has purposely rendered Himself powerless over our decisions
That's actually the freewill given to us: He could but He didn't
My thought the entire time we were on this subject:
He loves me (and all the people around me) so much
We don't deserve it and yet, we get that unconditional love
How could we ever turn away, knowing how much He loves us?



Revelation 4
What about THE ONE for me?
Once again....
*BUZZER SOUNDS:DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH*
No such thing.
Oookayyy so maybe it's a two-choose-one, three-choose-one, four-choose-one thing?
*BUZZER SOUNDS:DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH*
God didn't make our love life to be a multiple choice question paper
There's no fixed answer, no single person you're destined to marry
I mean, what if the person you're destined to be with died early or married someone else or migrated to Antarctica to look after penguins?
Are you gonna spend the rest of your life seeking this person?
Are you gonna spend your life as a spinster or bachelor then?
God didn't destine us to be with one particular person.
Again, this is where freewill comes in
God gave us all the choice of who we wanna marry (or whether we even want to marry in the first place)
We choose to ask God to guide us.
So it should be: God, show me who's the one?
*BUZZER SOUNDS:DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHH,DEHHHHHH*
Nahhh, more of: God, lead me to someone in line with Your will
sometimes,just because the person you have in mind is Christian doesn't mean that's in line with God's will
there are Christians of different faith levels,different commitment levels.
even people from the same church may not be right
since we're incapable of truly judging for ourselves, we rely on God.
God's matching will be the right one (:



Moral of the story: trust GOD and His plan
Awesomeness, these revelations are like totally mind-boggling
I'm still in awe of it all
The best part is it was indirectly answering prayers that I prayed earlier.
totally amazing(:
I really thank God for it!
thanks to Timo and Peijun as well (:
very very long post....
gotta go do my 800 word essay now.