I am really thankful to God for giving me the chance to attend the SFC Middle East Conference held in Sharjah, UAE last Nov. 9-10,2012. It was such a wonderful experience being with my fellow SFCs all over Middle East.
The venue was great! Hosts were so generous. The atmosphere was so vibrant!
The mood was perfect!
Everytime I sing, every moments I lifted up my hands in praises and worships, every instances I closed my eyes and bowed my head in prayers, it brought me a wonderful feeling nobody can explain.
But more than anything else, It's the conference's message for this year that I am really thankful for.
Be Joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances."
-1 Thessalonians 5:16
It's not as simple as it seems.
It's easy to be joyful, to pray and to be thankful.. but always, at all times and in all circumstances? It's another story.
Be Joyful always. This doesn't mean being happy always. Joy is deeper than happiness.
It's the feeling when we surrender to God everything believing that in God alone we can experience the real Joy.We often miss Joy because we always put our confidence to our own abilites. We always try to work harder to find it while in fact the harder we work the further we drift from God and the Joy that we are looking for.
Joy comes from trusting our God. Letting Him do His job.
Do your best, take a rest! And let God do the rest!
Pray at all times. This doesn't mean us to be in our knees always and do nothing but a formal prayer. Instead, the Lord wants us to be in constant communication with him.It's not only through words we do communicate. We also communicate through our actions and even our silence.
Praying at all times means living and thinking with God always in our minds.
Give Thanks in all circumstances. "In all circumstances" is very different from "For all circumstances". Here God wants us to be thankful even if we are experiencing hard times knowing that He is working in every circumstances and that no matter what happened, nothing can separate us from God's love and mercy.
Nevertheless, we should not forget also to be grateful during good times. Often times, we think that we earned somethning great because we work for it.We forgot to give thanks. We need to remember that every thing in this world is God's gift to us. Even the air that we breathe... the food that we eat... the life that we live.
And God deserves our thanks for all of these always.
I can honestly confess, the verse is so difficult to follow. After the MEC, I find myself delving into the verse and trying to evaluate my own life and found out that I struggle with it. Too many factors around me keep me from leaving my comfort zone and start living the way that God wants us all to live.
Difficult as it seems, but it's not impossible.
I just need to focus. Focus on God alone and try to develop a more intimate relationship with Him. With prayers, I know I can achieve the Joy that I need.
The Joy that comes with the Lord. And with the joy in my heart, I know I can be grateful at all times.
God has blessed me with the time and treasures to be able to attend the MEC. I will not be contented on just receiving it.
I know the main reason for which God has blessed me... So I could be a blessing to others.
Being a blessing is sharing the gifts that God gave us.
God gave me this message through MEC. And I am sharing it to all of you through
this blog.