Asking & Receiving? A look at John 15:7-8!

This was an interesting incident recently with John 15:7-8.. the verse goes like this:

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

BUT if you read it "wrongly" without separating the verses 7 and 8 and looking at the punctuation, you could get:

 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory....

So it means, ask and it will be given and it will be glorifying to God? Ask "anything"? and God will give it to be glorified? hmm... a bit weird rite?...

So then, read it again, and you'll probably realise that the punctuation makes a whole lot of difference!

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Now this means that it is To our Father's glory >> THAT WE BEAR MUCH FRUIT when showing ourselves to be His disciples.

That is a whole lot of difference right?

And if you go further to the beginning of the verse you'll probably understand it better. OUR GOD is glorified by us "remaining in Him" and "His words remaining in us".

Because if that is so, it means God is FIRST in our lives, and it means that we will have such a close relationship with Him that whatever we ask, he will give to us!

Think about it, if we miss out the first part "If you remain in me and my words remain in you", then no amount of asking can help, cos maybe the things we are asking for are not something GOD can grant.
We must desire to Glorify GOD First and foremost, not ourselves. Then we can bear Godly fruit...

God can't be answering prayers which at the end won't result in Godly Fruit, or where at the end, He wont' be glorified. Sounds like a materialistic God? not quite... our God is also a God of logic, justice, virtues of honesty, integrity.. surely he can't stand unGodly things right?

Just something to think about!

Seven heavenly virtues!

Something interesting... what's the 7 heavenly virtues in Japanese? I'm sure some of us who know chinese traditional characters will recognise some:

Faith (Shinnen)

 

Hope (Kibou)

Charity (Jizen)

Fortitude (Kennin)

Justice (Seigi)

Temperance (Sessei)

Prudence (Shinchou)

But did you know...  in Catholic catechism, the seven virtues refers to one of two lists of virtues, most commonly referring to the 4 Cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Restraint or Temperance, and Courage or Fortitude, and the 3 Theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love or Charity; these were adopted by the Church Fathers.

An alternative list is the Seven heavenly virtues, opposed to the Seven deadly sins, and consisting of Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility.


Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_virtues

THE POPE, THE MEDIA, AND THE SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDALS

Pope Benedict XVI has come under intense scrutiny over the last few weeks, regarding the sexual abuse scandals. This page seeks to set out the facts, in an attempt to rectify and combat some of the biased and incorrect media coverage that has surrounded this issue. Sexual abuse of children is a horrific crime. No coverage of this issue would be complete without a frank acknowledgement of the errors that have been made in the handling of child sexual abuse cases in the past. Pope Benedict XVI has apologised on behalf of the entire Catholic Church, and met with victims in several countries. At the same time, it is important to recognise the extraordinary efforts that the Church now goes to assist victims of sexual abuse in their healing, to remove offenders from positions of responsibility, and to safeguard children in our institutions and parishes.

More at: http://www.xt3.com/smallprint/media.php

Psalm 23 @ for the Work Place!

Enjoy this Guitar rendition of ---  "Be Thou My Vision"


Lyrics:

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

2. Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

3. Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

4. Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

5. High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

Meet 'The Stupid Servant'

This is indeed a very heart-rending testimony from a married priest! "What? a married priest in the Catholic Church?"...you must be asking yourself.

Well read his testimony and be inspired by his (and his wife's) moments at experiencing the love of God. It is also a story of conversion from scepticism about the Catholic faith, the role of our Blessed Mother, and how in the end, faith and patience prevailed resulting in the most joyous experience by the real-life characters in the testimony.

Click here and be spiritually inspired and motivated:
http://thedivinemercy.org/news/story.php?NID=3796

A wonderful explanation of death!

Last month we were focusing on being "ALIVE" at the OLPS Youth gathering on 27 FEB. But interestingly, this post is an interesting take on Death.... a topic that comes up during the time of lent when we focus on dying to "ourselves" and becoming alive in Christ!

I believe Christ must have endured a harsh death, but was so ever eager to return to our FATHER in heaven. What about you? Do you wish to return to your Master? Is your Master truly Jesus? or is something else our masters? DO we have many masters? (e.g. our worldly desires, greed, lust, fame, pride, unforgiveness, etc)... Drop all of that and focus on JESUS!!!


~DEATH~
A view to the future....for those who are afraid of death, the final experience on Earth.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY TO EXPLAIN IT .

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to Leave the examination room and said, Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.'

Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.'

'You don't know? You're, a Christian man, and don't know what's on the other side?'

The doctor was holding the handle of the door; On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog?

He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.

I know little of what is on the other side of death, But I do know one thing...

I know my Master is there and that is good enough.'

May today there be peace within you.
May you trust God that you are exactly
Where you are meant to be.
I believe that friends are quiet angels
Who lift us to our feet when our wings
Have trouble remembering how to fly.

OLPS Youth Gathering: ALIVE!

Hi all, Yesterday some of us attended ALIVE! It was thought provoking, especially the video that David shared with everyone, called "Shaking Tokyo". It made us reflect about our lives and whether we are really alive?

Read more at http://olpsyouth.blogspot.com/2010/02/alive.html