These quotes on the necessity of immediate obedience to God have reminded me of important things.
"The more one surrenders convictions and discipline, the more one gradually changes one's own hungers and desires" - Ravi Zacharias
"Often our strongest moral beliefs (beliefs to the effect that we ought to do this or ought not do that) will diminish or even disappear if we procrastinate acting on them... Often, procrastination will cause the belief to wane in strength. And if you put off action long enough, the belief might disappear altogether." - taken from the book "i told me so" by Gregg Ten Elshof
These two authors have a lot of wisdom. These two quotes ring loudly with my experience in my walk with God.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
A cool effect of practicing God's presence
Lately, I've been noticing a surprising effect of practicing the discipline of practicing God's presence. That is lost of self-consciousness/nervousness when talking to others in certain social situations.
While I wasn't the shyest kid on the block, I used to get nervous in certain social situations. That included certain occasions of public speaking, talking to certain members of the opposite sex, or doing a deviant but honourable social action that required a great degree of social courage to do.
After [vigorously] practicing God's presence for a while though, I realize that this social anxiety that I was somewhat accustomed to experiencing has started to melt away. Not fully, but a significant chunk of it. The cool thing is that I think the cause-and-effect of it is somewhat mysterious, meaning that a lot of the credit is not mine and not traceable (although I know the ultimate source of it is God). It's definitely not only my own efforts.
It feels a little bit like walking into a room that is very humid, hot, and therefore physically uncomfortable. One tries to alleviate this discomfort by opening windows, or fanning oneself with makeshift fans, but they are of little help. All of a sudden though, one finds air conditioning available with an air conditioning unit that just magically appears all of a sudden. One then finds the remote, turns the air conditioning on, then the stuffy/hot air is slowly cleared away and replaced with cool, thin, relaxing air. Although one can't see the difference with one's eyes (other than the sweat coming out of one's body), one can feel it.
The difference feels a little bit like that, where when I previously walked into these awkward, uncomfortable, anxious social situations where the social atmosphere would be pretty uncomfortable. I tried certain "techniques" of managing and alleviating the social discomfort before, but to little or no avail. However, I turn on the "remote" of practicing God's presence that acts like an air conditioner, then mysteriously, these social atmospheres are no longer as "stuffy" and discomforting as they previously were. I know the credit should not go to me (although I have to "turn on the social air conditioner of God's presence") but to God.
Glory to God.
I can talk to attractive members of the opposite sex without being nervous now. And it is not due to pride (if I'm not deceiving myself that is). It is not because I read GQ. It is because I read "The Game with Minuets" by Frank Laubach.
Who would have thought that a side effect of this discipline would have such a random, yet beneficial effect?
The mysteries of life.
***
On another note, yay, praise God for free education with the help of technology (and sweetie pie universities) these days!
While I wasn't the shyest kid on the block, I used to get nervous in certain social situations. That included certain occasions of public speaking, talking to certain members of the opposite sex, or doing a deviant but honourable social action that required a great degree of social courage to do.
After [vigorously] practicing God's presence for a while though, I realize that this social anxiety that I was somewhat accustomed to experiencing has started to melt away. Not fully, but a significant chunk of it. The cool thing is that I think the cause-and-effect of it is somewhat mysterious, meaning that a lot of the credit is not mine and not traceable (although I know the ultimate source of it is God). It's definitely not only my own efforts.
It feels a little bit like walking into a room that is very humid, hot, and therefore physically uncomfortable. One tries to alleviate this discomfort by opening windows, or fanning oneself with makeshift fans, but they are of little help. All of a sudden though, one finds air conditioning available with an air conditioning unit that just magically appears all of a sudden. One then finds the remote, turns the air conditioning on, then the stuffy/hot air is slowly cleared away and replaced with cool, thin, relaxing air. Although one can't see the difference with one's eyes (other than the sweat coming out of one's body), one can feel it.
The difference feels a little bit like that, where when I previously walked into these awkward, uncomfortable, anxious social situations where the social atmosphere would be pretty uncomfortable. I tried certain "techniques" of managing and alleviating the social discomfort before, but to little or no avail. However, I turn on the "remote" of practicing God's presence that acts like an air conditioner, then mysteriously, these social atmospheres are no longer as "stuffy" and discomforting as they previously were. I know the credit should not go to me (although I have to "turn on the social air conditioner of God's presence") but to God.
Glory to God.
I can talk to attractive members of the opposite sex without being nervous now. And it is not due to pride (if I'm not deceiving myself that is). It is not because I read GQ. It is because I read "The Game with Minuets" by Frank Laubach.
Who would have thought that a side effect of this discipline would have such a random, yet beneficial effect?
The mysteries of life.
***
On another note, yay, praise God for free education with the help of technology (and sweetie pie universities) these days!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
It's been a while
It's been a while since I've blogged. Probably around 2 years. A lot has happened since. My views have changed. My heart has changed. I have changed. Perhaps I will scribble down my thoughts from time to time here.
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