Wednesday, August 22, 2012

do you know what you want?


"if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” 
(Matthew 21:22)

The verse above is a very strong verse, it says that "if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" - mark the words in bold, you will receive whatever you ask. whatever i ask? YES, whatever you ask. the question is : Do you even know what do you want to ask for? or to simplify it, Do you even know what do you want?


If we know what we want its easier for us to recognize it when it comes doesn't it? 

On the above verse, God is telling us to ASK. WHY? because God wants us to really know what he has in store for us according to His plan and His will. the question is do we trust God enough to let go of what we want all along to what He has in store for us? vers

Often times we pray and pray and pray, asking God for things that we thought we want without even knowing if what we want is truly what we need. Thus, instead of just praying and asking God for something why don't we pray and ask God to lead us to pray about what we need most. Praying helps us define what we think we want and harmonize it with what God wants. 

The verse also says, "If you believe.." which means there's another factor in receiving what we ask for, the FAITH factor. Do we trust in God enough? Do we believe in His ability to answer what we ask for? 

Some of us actually know what we really want and pray to ask it BUT rarely believe that God is able to answer that prayer. If we are doubting God's ability to do his work and answer our prayers then why should we pray at all? 

The keys of receiving whatever we ask are : knowing what we want to ask first and then believing that God is able to answer our prayer in his own ways, not in ours. 

God will never despise the prayer of his children no matter how silly the prayer might sound because God sees the heart and the faith in the prayer. So it's okay to ask for what you want to God and get ready to see God's awesome ways in asnwering your prayers :)

LOVE is...

Lately, I've been learning about true love from my mother. I have seen how strong she is throughout the years living with my father, especially at times when my father seemed so hard to be loved.

I always love the Bible verse about LOVE that says, 


Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Cor 13: 4-7)

It sounds beautiful isn't it? But in reality, it takes a great heart to love that way.

When I took time to really watch my mother, I learned a lot from her about love and about commitment. Despite of the hard times she's been having with my father, she's the person who cares about my father the most. She took care of my father when he's sick and put up with his bad attitudes. Although sometimes she would tell me how tired she is but she always said that I should respect my father no matter what and for sure, she always stands for his honor in front of everybody. I've seen that most of the time my father doesn't really appreciate her the way she should be appreciated but still she always be the one who cares about the details of my father's needs. I've seen her hurting for so many times and I've also seen her releasing her forgiveness every single time. My mother chose to love and pray for my father every single day and that's her commitment. She never give up on my father and her marriage. 

My mother's commitment to her marriage is what's keeping her love towards my father despite of the hard times and tough situation. Commitment is about doing the things that you should do despite of what you feel or what situation you're in. People might think that's a foolish thing to do but remember that nothing is ever in vain if you have the right heart to begin with. My mother's commitment is what's keeping the family intact. My mother's commitment is the real example for me and my brother about what marriage is all about.

To every man out there, if you are blessed with a lovely wife who loves you no matter what and at all cost. Appreciate her, love her, respect her and honor her because you'll never know the strength and the decision she made every single day to love you in bad and good times and believe me, the power of a praying woman is so strong that God will stand up on her behalf. 

If people ask me how does the LOVE in the verse on Corinthians looks like? I'd say it looks like my mother's love to my father. sweet, strong and forgiving

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

tali temali silahturahmi.

Kalau dipikir-pikir, di jaman sekarang ini seberapa banyak dari kita yang tersenyum atau sekedar menyapa orang yang kita temui di jalan? Dan kalau dipikir-pikir lagi, seberapa sering sih kita melakukan hal itu?

Mungkin lebih sering kita menemui orang-orang yang sibuk dengan gadget mereka (atau mungkin bahkan kita sendiri) dibandingkan memperhatikan orang-orang di sekitar mereka. Ironi yang paling tepat menggambarkan hal ini adalah, kecanggihan teknologi mampu membawa orang yang jauh dari kita terasa dekat, namun menjauhkan orang yang dekat dengan kita.

Seberapa banyak juga dari kita yang lebih memilih untuk berpura-pura sibuk dengan gadget kita disaat kita bertemu dengan orang yang kita tidak sukai? Hayooo ngacung! *ikut ngacung* - gue juga melakukan hal yang sama kok, kadang lebih mudah “berpura-pura” menyibukkan diri daripada berbasa-basi dengan orang yang bikin males.

Kadang terasa banget bahwa manusia semakin individualis dan egois. Kita sering banget lupa sama esensi hubungan dan melupakan juga kenyataan bahwa konflik adalah bagian dari hubungan, dan tentunya di jaman serba instan ini, sering kali orang memilih untuk mengambil keputusan dan bahkan bereaksi secara instan atas setiap konflik yang terjadi pada sebuah hubungan. Lari seakan menjadi jalan keluar yang paling mudah daripada diam dan berani menghadapi konflik dan parahnya, membicarakan orang lain di belakang seperti menjadi jauh lebih mudah daripada menegur di muka karena kita takut berkonflik.

Entahlah, gue merasa sepertinya manusia semakin lama semakin berjarak dengan manusia lainnya. Seperti cerita seorang teman, ketika ada seorang penumpang di bus-nya yang mendadak pingsan karena sepertinya terkena serangan jantung mendadak. Satu bus yang perduli temen gw dan beberapa orang bapak-bapak yang akhirnya memapah sang korban ke rumah sakit, bahkan orang yang duduk di sebelah sang korban aja memilih untuk pura-pura tidur.

Ngga itu aja, seberapa sering sih kita melihat bapak-bapak atau bahkan anak-anak muda yang berpura-pura tidur saat melihat ada ibu hamil atau orang yang membawa anak kecil naik ke dalam kendaraan umum, seakan-akan memberikan tempat duduk untuk orang yang membutuhkan merupakan hal yang akan membuat mereka menderita sengsara seumur hidup.

Dan seberapa banyak sih orang memiliki kesadaran untuk mengantri di tempat umum? karena kadang masih gue temui orang-orang yang masih seenaknya memotong antrian bahkan ketika sudah jelas ada queueing line-nya.

Seberapa banyak jugakah dari kita yang masih memiliki toleransi terhadap sesama dan menghargai perbedaan, kalau nyatanya isu SARA masih merupakan isu yang masih ampuh untuk menjadi pemecah diantara satu sama lain. Bahwa kekerasan yang dilakukan terhadap individu lain atas nama SARA masih terkesan begitu mudah “diampuni” karena tidak sanggup kita menghargai orang yang berbeda dari diri kita.

Kadang gue berpikir, apakah ego itu begitu besarnya dibandingkan kemampuan untuk mengasihi sesama manusia? Apakah mengalah itu sebegitu sulitnya dilakukan demi kepentingan orang lain? Apakah kita lupa bahwa kita adalah bagian dari sebuah hubungan yang saling bertautan bahkan dengan seluruh makhluk yang ada di alam semesta. Bahwa sekecil apapun hal yang kita lakukan dan sekecil apapun keputusan yang kita ambil sanggup mengubah seluruh kejadian di alam semesta.

Okay, mungkin gue udah mulai terdengar sok puitis dan sok filosofis tapi inti dari post ini adalah, masih adakah rasa sayang di dalam diri kita terhadap sesama kita, terlepas dari perbedaan yang ada di antara kita. Masih bersediakan kita berhenti sesaat untuk terkadang sekedar menyapa mereka yang dekat dengan kita. Masih bersediakan kita meluangkan waktu untuk memberikan perhatian pada orang-orang di sekeliling kita.

Ketika kita membuka hati kita untuk berhenti melihat ke dalam diri kita dan terus menerus menuntut untuk apa yang tidak kita miliki atau menuntut apa yang kita inginkan, maka kita akan menyadari bahwa kita adalah orang-orang kaya yang diberkati dengan banyak hal, termasuk di antaranya, hubungan kita dengan sesama manusia. Terkadang konflik akan muncul, menyakiti kita, melukai kita dan membuat kita kecewa tapi pada akhirnya kita sadar bahwa setiap konflik terjadi untuk mendewasakan kita, untuk menguji hubungan kita dan untuk membuat kapasitas hati kita menjadi lebih besar karena tidak ada hal yang terjadi di dalam hidup kita ini terjadi dengan sia-sia.

Dan percayalah bahwa ketika kita merasakan diri kita sebagai bagian dari dunia dan mulai mengambil bagian untuk memperhatikan dan mengasihi sesama kita, kita tidak akan pernah sendirian karena apa yang kita tabur, itulah yang akan kita tuai.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

The reason of believing.

have you ever wondered why do you believe what you believe and what if what you believe turns out to be the wrong one in the end?

i have. for so many times.

i am raised in a christian family but i have also question my christian faith throughout the years. i always believe in the christian values and belief system until one day a question popped in my head - "what if...in the end, everything that i have believed until now, everything that i have known turns out to be wrong..."

i am glad that i befriended with people who never shunned me down because i have such question and further, encourage me to find the answer to the question on my own until i have made my own decision to believe what i want to believe and to know why i am believing it. 

it is important to know what you believe and why you believe it because it will help you to validate your faith. i believe that God gave us brain to think and heart to feel, and He would definitely expect us to use both. i know my God won't get mad if i question His existence, it's part of knowing Him anyway. if you have never question one's existence i guess you would never know if that someone does exist or not. for me, i have decided to believe that God does exist, you might have the opposite opinion and i won't go against you. i believe everyone has their own journey in finding the truth. i can tell you the truth that i have found but you have to "really walk on it" yourself to really find it. 

i don't believe in blind faith, but i believe in the faith of a child.

a blind faith doesn't require your brain to think, it doesn't even feed your heart. it feeds your emotion. it does stir your heart, but in a wrong way. it doesn't allow you to think for yourself, let alone questioning what you believe. a blind faith makes you believe just because everyone else's believing in it, just because everyone else's telling you that it's the right thing to do, just because everyone else's make the decision what to believe for you. you need to know why you believe what you believe, or else, what's the point of believing in it anyway if you don't even know it?

a real faith doesn't work that way.

a real faith works like a faith of a child. it's a faith that knows what to believe and why you believe it. there's a factor called "assurance" in the faith of a child because you have the knowledge about what you believe. it's like a child trusting in his father. he knows his father, he has a relationship with his father, thus, he has the "assurance" to trust and believe in his father. he doesn't trust his father because other people tells him to, but he trust his father because he knows that his father can be trusted. the same way that a child might not trust his father, not because other people tells him to but because he experience things that make him lose the trust in his father.

a real faith is experienced not told. it's on personal level. 

if you really know what you believe and why you believe it then what other people believe won't easily affect you because you know exactly what you believe and whether other people agree with you or not it's no longer a problem. you will embrace them as a lovely companion during your journey in finding out the truth because knowing people who believe in a different thing from you would only help you get closer to the truth you need to know and the reason why you believe what you believe. 

cheers!

Sunday, August 05, 2012

Caught in the safety net.

have you ever noticed that in every trapeze act there is always a safety net below? it's there to catch the performers if there's something wrong or to help to bounce them back up. 


from His many roles in my life, Jesus is my safety net. my life can swing like crazy, sometimes I can't even catch up with the craziness but there will always be His hand catching me before I touch the ground and bounce me back up. for so many times, when I thought I would fall and crashed to the ground that's when I felt His hand pulling me back up and caught me, saving me from all the mess and I'm so thankful that after all these years, He never let me go. not once and I believe, not ever.


I LOVE YOU, JESUS