he answers... you just have to open your ears.

*this is the second time i'm typing this up. the first one was "oh-my-god..."-ly erased while publishing. it sucked pretty bad. but fear not my dear and faithful readers, for i will not failed you guys like blogger had failed me. bad blogger, bad. (pointing fingers at the screen). so here it goes...

some ppl feels as if God is too distant away. That He is up there, too pure, too disconnected from us that He doesn't listen when we talk to Him. Well, I think otherwise, I think He listens, He cares, and most of all, he speaks to us. All we have to do is open our ears and pay closer attention to his voice. I'll let you decide.

part1:
It says that the word of God is sharper than any double-edge sword. that it is our only weapon to fight back against the forces of darkness. Luckily, most of us have access to this magical weapon in a form of a book called... da da da Bible! yep yep. Ironically, when in times of trouble, hardly any of us ever turn to the good book for calvary and strength. But sometimes, the bible finds you. In an unexpected fashion, I went through a bible study of Philippines 3 with a good friend of mine. I wasn't even thinking about the word of God, but it came to me. and boy, did i needed it.

here's the passage, i highlighted some of the key words that stood out to me...
Philippians 3
1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.
2Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Pressing on Toward the Goal 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

My life consists of a lot of gray areas, a lot of maybies and mmm...i'm not sures, and lately, these maybies has been causing quite a stir in how I should live my life. But from this passage we learned that there should be no gray area in our lives. it's either black or white. destruction or righteousness. there are only 2 paths in which we are on. The path to destruction and the path to righteousness. In this passage of the path to righteousness, Paul is saying how if there are anyone that should brag about how great his life is, it should be Paul. Paul is consider as the man of mens, the Hebrew of all Hebrews. And yet, he does not boast about himself, in fact, he counts all to be loss comparing to knowing Christ. Everything he strived for in life, his status, power, wealth, education. All these he consider as rubbish in having righteousness that comes from faith in Christ, instead of from the law. And that if we are mature, we should live choose this path of life, to live up to the person that we are meant to be.

part 2:
Great. So the Lord talks to us through reading the bible. Big surprise. But what about the non-christians? how are they going to hear God? it's not like everyone has a bible in their bathroom as reading material. which they should. how cool would it be to read about john the baptist while you're on the john? huh? yea, i know! But in reality, I believe that God speaks to us in more ways than one. Sometimes he speaks to us through our friends, families, the stranger on the street corner. Christians, non-christians, non-non-christians. I believe God can use anyone in doing His will, as long as that person is willing. One of my good friend reminded me the important things in life today, the funny thing is that she probably doesn't even know it.

Lately, through the course of a few events, it was brought to my attention that I might be partying too much, and through these socials, I might be causing my friends to stumble in their walk. This is true. But being the David that I am, i was denying it. And these were my reasons, i think they're pretty good reasons... I'm a super-duper senior; it's my last year in college; i'm in the prime of my life; i'm still young to make mistakes; i don't get drunk, i just get tipsy; i don't have a girlfriend nor have i had one in... ages; and here's my favorite, "it's not good for a man to be alone" (quoting the bible here). I have to say these are pretty good excuses to go all out and have a blast. And yet, i'm choosing not to, and it's torning me apart. Until today, until I was reminded that in 20 years none of these things that i'm wanting to do will matter. It won't matter if I went to a lot of parties my senior year, or if I had a really cute girlfriend when i left college. These things does not stand the test of time. Instead, 20 years from now, i'll be disappointed by the important things that I did not do than the ones that i did. And that is not how I want to spent my last terms of my college career. I don't have much time left, and I should cherish every last second of it. instead of being selfish about myself, I should be mature about it and do what is most important. To "forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead"

So what changed? The problems are still there (midterm and a quiz tomorrow, 4 chapters behind for the midterm, 3 chapters for the quiz, good times), the obstacles are still the same, nothing has changed in the past 18 hours except one thing. My perspective. my perspective has changed. I'm no longer longing after my selfish ambitions, instead i'm focusing on living life. Life that is selfless, joyful, adventurous, balanced, exciting, and Godly. We are all meant to shine in this world. it's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. so let us shine.

I feel much better now. thx.

Hebrews 4:12 (New International Version)
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

p.s. what about the path for destruction? read romans chapter 1.