Sola Gratia

Sometimes I wonder about the intentions that goes into prayer. Some would say “It’s rare enough that people pray, don’t worry about it,” but I think it’s worth looking at.

I wonder if sometimes the intentions beneath my prayers are really saying this: “God grant me the grace I wouldn’t have to be reliant on your grace in the future.” To put it bluntly, that’s praying like an adulterous whore. To pray to our Lord for all the things that would lead us to go and commit adultery against Him.

My friend Richard recently showed me this verse in Proverbs that speaks about only asking for what is needed. Too little or much would cause us to forget our God and do things against his will.

Proverbs 30:7-9

7Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me^(A) before I die:
8Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is^(B) needful for me,
9lest I be^(C) full and^(D) deny you
and say,^(E) “Who is the LORD?”
or lest I be poor and steal
^(F) and profane the name of my God.

Father, in my prayers would you incline my heart to yours. Would my mouth speak prayers that ask for your grace and to be dependent upon your grace. Whatever gift or blessing I’m not ready for that would cause me to be puffed up would you not give. I pray that in every blessing from your hands you would be glorified as it is received from one who sees you as the only source and giver of life everlasting.
In your Son’s name I pray, Amen.

Father, I pray that I would never seek the crown but remember whom I serve and where my reward lies. Please give me the grace to be humble and obedient that I may honor and exalt you and only you with all of my life.
In your Son’s name I pray, Amen.

Finals…. sigh…

Done.

Anger for me is sometimes a good thing. As I procrastinate on something, anger at myself usually builds up. It builds up until I finally get so pissed that I go and finish everything in a raging flurry. But why does it always have to come down to that at 3 am in the morning? Why can’t I just do it on normal time and sleep at a normal time? It’s not ability because I can do it in cut time and faster when I’m pissed off. God, I hate myself sometimes.

sigh… so disappointed at myself.

what the big JC is cookin?

Having just returned from a cookout at a friend’s place, I found this quote from Pastor Piper to be quite inspiring.

“We do not yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we can smell the steak sizzling on the grill.”

-Pastor John Piper on how to fight lust with the what is infinitely better-the promises of God.

Psalm 16:11

11You make known to me^(A) the path of life;
in your presence there is^(B) fullness of joy;
at your right hand are^(C) pleasures forevermore.

I feel like this verse adequately sums up what I’ve been wading through the past couple of weeks…

1 Cor. 16:9

9for^(A) a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and^(B) there are many adversaries.

So I’ve been asked this question more and more recently. “Why are you still single Wei?” All I’m gonna say to that is that to me there are few things more attractive than a woman that loves, no, passionately loves the Lord. Am I saying that I’ve never met one in my life that’s datable? No. But they are very rare.

I’d be completely lying if I were to say that I’m completely free of vanity and that is all I’ll ever look for but the aforementioned stuff is pretty important.

Oh yeah, you know what else is pretty hot? A woman that reads her Bible.

Proverbs 31:10-31

A couple days ago I was driving through some local hilly roads when I hit a spot in the road where there was a clearing in the sky. The trees parted where the road ran up and my eyes were suddenly flooded by direct sunlight. It just engulfed everything in sight and everything turned into a blinding sheet of white. Every hue, shadow, detail of my periphery was consumed by light.

To think this kind of piercing light absolutely pales in comparison to the glory and majesty of my Father just floors me even more. The sun is only but one of his glorious creations. Amazing…

Psalm 104:1-2

1^(A) Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD my God, you are^(B) very great!
^(C) You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2covering yourself with light as with a garment,
^(D) stretching out the heavens^(E) like a tent.

Oh yeah and the coming again of his Son isn’t too shabby either…

Luke 17:24

24^(A) For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be^(B) in his day.^[a]

Ok so this post is a departure from the rest, but I did say I was gonna be more candid with this blog.

I got hit up with steep $500 parking fine tonight for parking in a handicap spot. Yeah it was my fault, but 500 bucks?! That’s like my food money for more than a semester! And it was like 9 pm, where’s the mercy? Wow, I’m trying hard not to let this get to me but I just can’t figure out how to pay it. It moments like these that promises like Romans 8:28 are supposed to more relevant than ever but it’s also the hardest time to take hold of them for what they are and believe that “all things” really means “all things.”

God I know you are true to your promises but as always it’s just hard for me right now to see that. Please open my eyes and incline my heart to yours so that I may be able to see past petty things like money (even if its not my own) and have faith that your grace is more than enough even in the face of ridiculous blood sucking 500 dollar parking tickets.