The Five Wise Virgins

"All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s  within  us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy." - Romans 8:22-25, The Message This passage is filled with a large amount of HOPE. The Holy Spirit made me realize that I am carrying God's seed of promise inside of my 'spiritual womb', that is why I am feeling the 'birth pangs' . Sometimes I feel stuck, and get tired of waiting the fulfillment of God's promise in my life. I couldn't see it coming because I was focusing on th

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8 I have read or heard this verse for like hundred times, but somehow I feel like there's something missing, that is until now I haven't fully 'experienced' the POWER that this verse is talking about. Do I have the power in me? Has the Holy Spirit come upon me? How does it look like to have the power? What does it mean to be a witness to Jesus in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth?  What's the meaning of WITNESS? a witness is a person who sees an event take place. How then I become a witness? I recall of an event that happened in my life few years ago. I had a broken relationship with my father. I had this strong hatred in my heart towards him. I refused to meet or even talk with him. I didn't want to get close or even see his face

"Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person." (Colossians 4:6, NASB) I do want my speech always be with grace. Recently, I have been struggling with expressing my thoughts. The thing is I was just moved to Melbourne to pursue higher education in human rights law, and I found myself in a class filled with English-speaking people. Not just 'people', but law-minded people. And that's the thing. I encountered difficulties in catching up and actively engaging with certain discussion at my previous classes. And I realized it was mostly because I couldn't fully understand what the lecturer and my other classmates were saying. As much as I wanted to say something, I wasn't confident enough because I was afraid of saying something out of my failure to hear or understand the previous statements made by my lecturer or my classmates. "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your