Author: Mark Co

“But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more“

Romans 5:20

This passage suddenly spoke to me in my thoughts and my mind.  Thinking and pondering on my past mistakes and sins, and even my most recent ones, I look back and see God’s mercy and grace at work.  Now, for anyone to read this passage on its own, one might be confused as to what it truly means.  One might be tempted to say, “oh okay, so the more sin, the more grace, so let’s continue to sin!”  But this is not the message Paul is relaying, as he also says:

“What then are we to say?  Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?  By no means!  How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life”

Romans 6:1-4

So don’t let this passage make you think that we are free to sin, and that we are encouraged to sin, so that we might receive more of God’s grace.  I think what Paul is trying to say is that we are all sinners, yes we sin everyday, yet in this struggle of sin, in this hatred of sin, no matter how much sin is present, God gives us His bountiful and amazing grace, this grace which ABOUNDS all sin, which COVERS all sin.  Paul is trying to tell us, that yes, we are sinners, but we should not simply give in to sin, but we must strive to get rid of it, we must hate sin, and aim for perfection, as Jesus said, “be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”  Yes, we will never be perfect and sinless while we are here on earth, but that should not stop us from aiming high, that should not stop us from running the race, this race of faith.  In this race, yes, there may very well be bumps along the way, possibly some hills, maybe even mountains to climb, we may fall here and there, but let not those moments when we fall discourage you from getting back up and running the race, do not be discouraged!  We are encouraged to press on forward …. we are not encouraged to fall, we are encouraged to finish the race!  To keep pressing forward, to keep our eyes on the prize, anticipating the prize in Heaven.

So as we reflect once again on this passage, “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” let us be ENCOURAGED by His LOVE, His GRACE, His MERCY, which covers all our sin, and let us be renewed by His great love for us, and may His Love FUEL our hearts, into spreading this LOVE, His LOVE, to everyone around us.

May God be praised.

Just realized I’ve been so behind in my blog posting, and so I commence with this blog.  Not really knowing what to write about, I lift up my thoughts to God, seeking what He wants, seeking His inspiration.  Thinking of the Lord, all I can think of, is His GOODNESS, and His LOVE.  I think of His LIGHT, which brings light to the darkness.  He shines through all darkness, for even the darkness is like light to Him … nothing is hidden from His Sight.  And so I am reminded of how good and loving our God truly is.  Today is the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and the homily I listened to today spoke about this LOVE between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this eternal exchange of LOVE.  And so we, imperfect human beings, who love imperfectly, are called to be part of this eternal exchange of Divine Love, so that we may love the way He loves, so that we may love with His LOVE.  Beautiful eh?  It is God, Who truly teaches us how to LOVE … this LOVE is revealed in Christ Jesus.  We are reminded in today’s Gospel, how God LOVES, by sending His Son to die for all of us.  He teaches us what true LOVE is, through His Son, this eternal Divine Love, this AGAPE LOVE.  Amazing ain’t it?  This all makes sense, because God is so loving, He Himself is LOVE.  So as I continue in my life, seeking Him in this road He has laid before me, I cling to His LOVE, trusting in His loving grasp, entrusting my life to Him, knowing I am in good hands, I am in His loving hands.

Thank You God for being so good.  I love you, help me love you more and more, and teach me how to love the way You love, that I may love others the way you have loved me a sinner.  Yours be the Glory, now and always, AMEN.

Just coming back from the 2014 Eastern MV SHOUT, I feel like I have a spiritual hangover … I mean that in a good way =) These past few days (from Wed. to Sunday to be exact) has been a SHOUT (literally God’s loud voice) of God’s love, His faithfulness, and His affirmations.  Personally, this is the second SHOUT that I have ever attended, the first one was just earlier this year for SFC, but I was only able to attend for a couple of days.  So I guess this was my first official SHOUT, wherein I stayed the entire time (excluding the few hours I was away due to my class).  I truly praise the Lord for allowing me to experience what I have experienced the past few days, and I’m glad and I praise Him that I have other brothers and sisters who are taking this journey with me!

In this SHOUT, the Lord has really spoken to me, and made His voice loud and clear.  He has affirmed me in so many ways.  Seeing His affirmations not only personally, but also for the community, and for my other brothers and sisters, reveals how amazing God truly is.  He is so good, He is so amazing, He loves us all so much.  He is patient with us, as He continues to call each of us closer and closer to Himself, as He calls us to come, to come and follow Him.

There is so much I want to share about, from God’s messages, His affirmations, relationships that were built among other brothers and sisters, and amidst all these having His Love, Peace, and Joy in our hearts despite the sleep deprivation hehe. I don’t want to write a book in this blog lol … so I guess I can share about the affirmation God has spoken to me about my family.  My family has gone through many ups and downs.  The Lord has truly affirmed me of the love He has for my family.  Last night as I was going through my journal notes from the SHOUT, I came across the passage 2 Samuel 7:16 which was used in Session 2.  So I took out my Bible and for some odd reason I started reading that passage and kept reading more after.  Then 2 Samuel 7:18-29 really spoke to me (I hope you can read that passage too:))  This affirmed me (from Session 2), of the blessing of my family and the love He has for my family.  Despite the imperfections in my family, He is still taking care of all of us, and He will take care of my family.  It’s like He was telling me, “Mark, do not worry, I love your family, they are in the palm of my hands.”  This really touched my heart, I mean, who am I, a man who has at many times felt like I’ve failed them, failed at showing them the love I need to show them.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my family so much, and I think that is why the Lord has spoken to me about them, letting me know that in mission, I don’t exclude my family, but I am to include them, to love them the same, and love them even more, trusting them in His loving care.

The second part of the passage (verses 25-29) also speaks to me about one of the affirmations in the SHOUT to “build,” to build a “house,”  to build His house among all His people.  I know the Lord is building His dwelling place in my heart, as He builds and blesses the house of my family.

He wants us to build His house, He wants us to build up other people.  He wants to use us as His hands and feet to touch the hearts of others.

Just throughout the SHOUT, I truly felt God’s love in all of our hearts, like a fire burning in our hearts.

So as He calls me to come to Him, to follow Him, I truly ask for His Grace and Mercy, for His Love and Strength, to guide me, to lead me, to use me, as I take up the call as His follower, as a current Mission Volunteer in CFC Singles for Christ, to engage in the mission of Couples for Christ, to BUILD the Church of the home, and to BUILD the Church of the poor, and to further push forward in the community’s vision of families in the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth; wherever I am called to serve, so that He may be glorified.

Rise oh generation rise
Hear the sound of faith its calling out to you
Rise oh generation rise
In His love we are invited to the Truth
Let the light of hope empower and consume

Rise oh generation rise
And together we will lift the name of God
Rise oh generation rise
And united we will be His hands and feet
To proclaim unto the world that He is King

We sing for all You’ve done
We will stand united singing
Kingdom come
You have set a fire burning
In our hearts
We will keep on building

Rise oh generation rise
Let a shout of praise resound in all the earth
Rise oh generation rise
And united we will be His hands and feet
And proclaim unto the world that He is King

As I start off this week (although I know yesterday, Sunday, is the beginning of the week), I look back at the weekend that just passed, as well as the past couple of weeks, and I say .. The Lord is good, He is Great, He is truly Amazing.  Many times I tend to forget that we are to live victoriously in the Lord, in His Grace, His Mercy, and His Great Love.  Many times, I catch and find myself focusing on the wrong things, my mind being entangled in negative thoughts and feelings.  Yet I realize that the Lord wants us to focus on Him, He wants me to look to Him always, to hear His still voice deep within my heart, which continually calls me by name.  This is His Great Love for me, for all of us.  He calls us to that quiet place, where we hear His voice, calling us all by name.  He reminds me to focus on Him, to think of Him, amidst the roaring waves of doubt, fears, negativity.  He calls me to rise above and turn my thoughts towards Him.  I thank God truly for His grace and His love, as He reminds me that He is FOR ME, and not against me.

My Lord and my God, my Father in Heaven, my Daddy, I’m sorry for the many times I have failed to focus and keep my eyes on You.  I ask for Your Grace, Mercy, and Love, to sustain me in times of weakness, to sustain me in times of struggle.  Be my strength oh Lord, be my guide, my Light, my everything.  Thank You Jesus, AMEN.

“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”

Philippians 4:6-7

“Finally, beloved,whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in Me, and the God of peace will be with you”

Philippians 4:8-9

 

This past week (last week) has really been a very busy yet very fruitful week.  We just had the 2014 CFC-SFC PreConference here in Toronto, with this year’s theme: DESIRE, with the anchor verse from Mark 10:51, ‘then Jesus said to him, “what do you want Me to do for you?’ The blind man said to Him, “my Teacher^, let me see again.’”  This PreCon has truly been a blessing, and I honour each and every person who served and participated this year. 

This year’s theme really speaks loudly to me, God is asking me, “Mark, what do you want me to do for you?  What is your desire?”  It’s funny, when I hear God asking me what’s in my heart, I can easily say, “well Lord, You already know,” but I think God is asking me this question not because He doesn’t know what’s in my heart (since He already knows everything, He searches deep within my heart), I think it’s about Him revealing to me and helping me figure out what my true and deepest desires are, these desires which He alone has placed deep within my heart; desires which can only be satisfied by Him alone.  Praise God for Ryan Mina who gave one of the sessions for the PreCon.  When I first joined SFC, Ryan had always been someone who inspired me in my faith, who helped me grow, and someone who I truly looked up to, and I still do today.  God reminded me once again, through Ryan’s session, that God alone can satisfy my deepest desires, nothing else.  He alone can fill me to the brim.  Although I may try and look for worldly pleasures and happiness, it is God Who I truly long for deep in my heart.  God alone can fill that emptiness which the world’s pleasures offer. 

So now, after listening to God throughout the PreCon, I ask the Lord to FILL ME TO THE BRIM, to use me where He desires.  I long for Him.  This longing I have for the Lord, to know him, to love Him, to serve Him, and to one day be with Him forever in Heaven, only comes from Him, the Giver of all good things. I am forever grateful for his seeds of Grace which He alone has placed in my heart which draws me closer and closer to Him.  So I thank the Lord with all my heart, for as much as I may think that I am myself am initiating my service to the Lord, it is Him Who calls and draws me, it is Him Who anoints, it is Him Who calms the storm in my heart, it is Him Who moves within me, and I thank You Lord for Your goodness and mercy.

Here’s a song which was sung by one of the competition bands in the PreCon which has captured my heart:

JESUS MOVE

Let the power of God fall down on us
Let Your power fall down right now
Let the Spirit of God pour out on us
Let Your Spirit Pour out right now

For Your Glory and You only
What You say is what we’ll do
Let Your passion become action
Holy Spirit come move

Jesus we’re alive to glorify Your Name
Let Your Spirit rise among us now as we sing
Jesus move

Let the love of God come alive in us
Let Your love come alive right now
‘Cause we don’t want to leave until we’re changed
So here in our hearts God have Your way

Dear God, weed out of my heart anything and everything that is not of You.  Have Your way in me.  Jesus, move within me, in Your mighty Name I pray, Amen.

Jesus meets us where we are.  Lately, I’ve been struggling in many aspects of my life. I ask God why I feel this way, or why at times I don’t feel Him or hear Him. I ask the Lord why things are happening the way they are. Today, just listening to some worship songs on a Christian radio station, I realized that Jesus meets us right where we are, whatever situation we are in. If you think about the many prominent characters in the Bible, it is God Who meets them wherever they may be in life. When Jesus called Peter, he was doing his job as a fisherman. When God called Moses, He met Moses where he was and appeared to him through a burning bush. When Jesus called Matthew, he was doing his job as a tax collector in a tax booth. When Jesus called Paul, he was a Pharisee persecuting Christians, Jesus met him where he was, on the road to Damascus, not even expecting Jesus to call out to him, but He met him right where he was, a Pharisee who persecuted the Church.  When Jesus healed people, He met them right where they were at in their lives, in their situation of need, needing His healing, needing His grace, needing His mercy, needing His love. Looking at the story of Bartimaeus, a man born blind, he was merely begging and sitting by a roadside. As he heard Jesus passing by, what did he do? Did he remain silent and motionless? No, he cried out loudly to Him “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” People around even told him to be quiet, yet what did he do? Did he become silent? No, the bible says “he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” Jesus then called for Bartimaeus, and we all know what happens next, He even loved Bartimaeus so much that He asked him what he would want Him to do for him (knowing fully that he was blind and would want his sight restored). Jesus healed Bartimaeus at his point of need.

Wherever we are in life, whether we feel we are stuck in a deep hole and we feel like we can’t get ourselves out, Jesus will meet us where we are, He offers His hand to pull us back up, and out of that rut. Whether we are struggling with something and we feel like the situation cannot get better, Jesus will meet us in our struggle. If we need healing, whether physically or spiritually, Jesus will meet us where we are, He is our Healer, our Great Physician. But are we just going to sit and wait and do nothing? Like Bartimaeus, we must have courage and faith and call out to the Lord in whatever situation we may be in. Even when the world tries to drown out our cry for help to the Lord, let us like Bartimaeus cry out all the more loudly to God, Who hears us and is there for us in our point of need, in our lowest point. Jesus meets us where we are. Let’s offer Him our brokenness, let’s offer Him our broken hearts, our broken souls, our imperfections, our struggles, our hurts, our pains, our doubts, our fears, let us offer Christ our lives, that He may take our brokenness and imperfections, our ashes, and He will heal us and make something beautiful out of whatever we can offer to Him, in His perfect timing. Jesus meets us where we are.

Amen.

For the past couple of years now, I’ve felt the Lord reminding me to be humble.  To be honest, I always thought I was a humble guy … but it was God Who revealed to me how much pride was in my heart.  Going through many different experiences these past few years, God has really made me realize how much pride is in me, and how much I need to pray for more humility (continuously) in my life.  For the many times I’ve looked down on others, judged others, thought negatively of others, thinking myself better than others (putting myself above them), and just not giving others the benefit of the doubt … basically, not SEEING and LOVING them the way God wants me to.

Just this week I had a household and one of the main topics of discussion was humility.  We did Lectio Divina, and we used the Second Reading for Palm Sunday (Philippians 2:6-11).  We were reminded of Christ’s humility …. I was thinking .. wow.  God Himself, humbled Himself, taking the form of a human being, a slave!  He was silent as He was being led to His death … death on a cross.  Makes me look like such a prideful person, having so much ego, being easily irritable and annoyed at people who I have felt have been unfair with me (even with the smallest things!).  It is during these times when I ask God to help me be humble.  The funny thing is (as we all probably know), when we ask God to help us at a certain virtue, He doesn’t just give it to us magically, but He puts us in situations where we can PRACTICE that certain virtue.  So I realize that every time I ask God to help me be humble, to teach me true humility, he puts me in situations where I need to PRACTICE HUMILITY, and this happens constantly.  I’ve learned (which I’ve also heard from teachings on humility) that being humble is a continuous act of letting go of our pride, and humbling ourselves, DAILY.  It is not something that we achieve, wherein we say “Aha!  I’m finally humble!” .. but it is a daily genuine act of humbling ourselves before the Lord, humbling ourselves with the people we interact with everyday; knowing that GOD IS THE SOURCE OF ALL GOOD, that all the gifts, talents, blessings we have are all from HIM.  Actually reminds me, even with something like playing a basketball game.  Sometimes, my own pride would make me think “I’m so good,” then the Lord would humble me, making me realize, oh okay, I’m not as good as I think I am (this actually happened to me when we lost a basketball game in a league I play for, it humbled me in the confidence I had in myself, realizing that it’s actually the Lord Who gives the ability for us to do things, i.e. win a basketball game).  Funny, but true.  So, what did I learn?  Well, I learned that I must truly humble myself to be able to experience God’s victory in my life.  If I don’t (if I rely on me, myself, and I), if I put confidence in ME, then where would God be in the picture?  If we could do things on our own and without God, if we let pride get the best of us, then how can God be truly glorified?

So as I conclude this blog, and as I continue to struggle with foolish pride, I continue to ask God daily to help me be humble, to help me practice humility, to help me see things for the way they are, to help me see the best in other people, to help me see them through God’s eyes, with eyes of LOVE, and that I am a sinner who needs GOD every minute of the day, and that I can DO NOTHING WITHOUT HIM … but WITH HIM, I CAN DO ALL THINGS.

“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.Let the same mind be in you that wasin Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”

Philippians 2:1-11