I think one of the toughest things to overcome about confronting others is fear. Fear of rejection, fear that the person you are confronting would hate your guts, fear that your point doesn't get across. On top of that, the fear seems to be more pronounce when the relationship that you have with that person is almost like walking on thin ice. Wrong choice of words could very easily end all communications between each other.. especially that person is family.

I had to confront my sister this past week, and let me tell you, I don't normally do it. Over the past 5 years or so, we've been non-directly building our friendship through one common ground, that is, volleyball. Before that, we pretty much had nothing. There were a lot of tears and fights which make our relationship extremely fragile.. but we both love each other

In any case, it came up as a financial issue between her and my parents for her wedding. If you don't know much about the Chinese culture, the bride's family don't really participate in any of the finances of the wedding 'cause they're "losing a daughter" - which completely contradicts the western thinking - that family supports family, which is the way my sister is more familiar with. Nothing wrong with either side of thinking, but with the lack of communication, angry words were thrown at each other. What's great about having God as your BFF is that He gives you wisdom on so many levels. I saw how each of them thinks, how it affects each other's relationship.

During the Christmas break, I learned this one interesting lesson by Jesse D. In 1 Samuel 17, the children of Israel were confronted with a huge problem.. Giants roaming around the land that God had promised His people. No one dare to fight the one giant that challenged them, Goliath. Now little (King) David, who walked with the Lord for so many years, stood up in boldness and said in verse 29, "“What have I done now? Is there not a cause?”

Everything we do on this earth is for a cause. It is the one thing that motivates us the things we do. So what's the point of this? I was motivated to speak to her because of the greater cause, that is, the union of my family. Realizing what your cause is will help you to stay focused to achieve the victory that God wants you to have. Have faith that God will work things out for you, that He never fails, His Word never fails, because love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8). So if you do what His Word says, you'll never fail. Also realize that you also need to do your part. James 2:7 - Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Always ask God for the right time. For me to step in at the moment they were arguing is going to fail. Why?

1. In the surface, there are too many emotions involved. Emotions will lead to other emotions, and emotions are never stable. Emotions arise when there's fear/selfishness involved.

2. Underneath all the emotions, lie selfishness, which are led by fear. The whole situation is about how do I protect myself? How is mom going to protect me from a financial deficit because of the wedding? How do I help my daughter without getting in a financial deficit in today's unstable economy? See how it's driven by the fear of not being secure?

3. Fear is Satan's weapon. So to get involved where there are emotions, you are battling on his grounds, instead of God's.

So I had to wait for the next day. To wait for the right timing is to be motivated by love - meaning, no emotions, no fear but staying focus on the cause. God nudged me to speak to my sister.. I had the morning to pray about it which is cool. Thank God for His Word and that He is the Truth, because my Jesus took care of everything. I spoke the truth to her, she got a bit defensive. I stayed focus on the cause, and God gave me the wisdom to show her that it's really nobody's fault but a misunderstanding, she kept quiet - usually it's a good sign if you're in a sticky situation with her.

A confrontation is not about attacking a person, to tell them that you hate them, or what's wrong with them. A confrontation when spoke in love is focused on change. People are unique, that's how God created us. And with that uniqueness comes with differences. A confrontation should be constructive, to point out the differences through effective communication (which means, speaking in love) so that change will result.

Guess what? It's the first time I've ever heard this but my mom came back to me that afternoon and told me that my sister apologized to her.

Like I said, love, who is God, never fails. My sister and my mom's relationship is salvaged, differences are exposed. Hallelujah.

So funny (well, not so funny at that moment) this morning was that when I left home for work, my dad and I discovered that someone teefed our green bin and blue box!

I mean, come on.. it's not that expensive for those stuff.. and on top of that, why the heck would anybody steal these things while they were full (especially the green bin)?!?!

I can feel all these negative emotions creep up on me. Satan will throw stupid thoughts like, "Why, you're the child of God! I thought God would protect your stuff?!?!" or "There are so many on this street, and of all the houses, why mine?!?!"

Gah. You gotta put those things down and cast them to the obedience of Christ. So I did, even though my fleshy self wants to find the culprit and just give him a piece of my mind. Then I kinda forgot about it until mid afternoon-ish.. I decided to call my mom and let her know the places you can buy those things.

So apparently the culprit didn't teef 'em. S/he moved the green bin to the front door of my neighbour's house and the blue box to the front door of the old man across the street. Now that's just a bit messed.. God said, had I gotten mad and let it affect my day, I would've stopped Him from taking care of it. What a great lesson relating to today's Faith to Faith Devotional - casting all your cares over to the Lord.

Anyhooo.. so basically things worked out 'cause I continued to walk in love instead of sulking away somewhere else, saw God worked and now it's a funny story. Honestly, one thought did cross my mind though, there's a possibility my sister slept walked and moved everything. Hahaha.. she slept walked and talked before. I actually had a conversation with her while she was sleep walking too. LOL.

Gotta bind those little devils.

I remember back in university, God started sending Christians to speak to me. I had a few Christian friends who witnessed to me, sharing me their testimonies but I never thought too much about any of it.

It was more of the Christians who didn't "act" like Christians - those are the ones I remember. There was one Christian girl who prided herself as a Christian, hung out with the Christian group yet still treated me like dirt. I've been bullied before, but she probably would top my list as one of the coldest people I've ever met. She was great to her friends, but horrible to any girl that could be a threat to her. And I was just too oblivious to these things to care other than the fact that her misrepresentation of the Christian faith just turns me off from the whole Christian teaching and to get to know Christ for His conduct.

You see, what I learned is that no matter what you do just so that you can fall into the category of Christianity, you will never experience the true freedom that comes with His glory.

What I mean is that, being a Christian doesn't mean to follow a set of rules such as don't drink, don't get into a sexual intimate relationship with someone before marriage, don't swear, go to church on Sundays, read the Bible every day, join the Friday night church fellowship... following these rules don't categorize you as a Christian because anybody can do it.. I did it when I was non-Christian.

When I first started walking with the Lord, things started to disappear in my life. It's not that I stopped drinking, it's because the desire to enjoy alcohol is no longer there. It's not that I stopped cursing, it's because I could no longer voice a curse word out.

You see, it's not because I stopped doing things so that I could be a Christian and be part of something bigger than me. It's because I fell in love with Jesus, and His glory manifested itself around me and eliminated anything sinful in my life. It's not just only eliminate sinful desires, but the glory of God that surrounds you should convict others of their sins. This is what I mean...

My friend from work, D, spent the most time with me in Mexico. She knows what I believe and see how different I am from other Christians. I never did say that, she did. It was a compliment for me. But anyhow, throughout the whole trip, I spent a lot of time with God. I never did criticize her of the things that she was doing in her life - it was not my place to judge. My job is to love her the way God loves me. At the end of the trip, she took something that didn't belong to her. She told me of what she did but I never said anything - all I did was smile. The moment she told me, she felt guilty - she was convicted of her sin even without me saying anything.

It's because the glory of God upon Jesus that manifested itself - that's why when people touched even Jesus' clothes (and Paul's too), they were healed. The glory of God is also called manifested goodness. It is impossible for evil things to exist in the glory of God because the moment sin or anything evil touches the glory, the sin gets judged and eliminated. It cannot withstand the glory of God. That's why a person who has the glory of God can never get sick is because of the power in the glory of God - which satisfies 1 Peter 2:24 - by His stripes, you were healed.

So the point of the story is, it's not what you do that makes you a Christian. It's what Jesus has done and the way you love Jesus is what makes you a Christian. It is through that love relationship that non-Christians will see the difference in you. That love relationship allows the glory of God to manifest in your life, which sets you free from the sins of this world. That's why it's impossible to experience the freedom from sin without the glory of God.

John 6:63 - It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Did you know that words are seeds?

You are the product of your parents' words. Did you know that? I'll prove it to you.

Back in 2006, I decided to follow the Lord and walked in singleness. During that time, I met a boy who lived a life without a father. His mom raised him and his brother up, and she loved them but I guess she's too busy providing their basic physical needs that she couldn't care for their spiritual and emotional needs. So by the time I met this boy, he didn't care too much about anybody but himself. He drank a lot, swore a lot, cared nothing in this world other than himself. When I met him, he was back in school to finish off his diploma after finding out he wasn't getting anywhere with his highschool education.

I only started going to church when I met him but since the day I was saved (it had already been 3 years by the time I decided to walk with the Lord), I had already learned to listen to the voice of God without realizing it. Things that I was speaking out of my mouth were faith words that even church people never heard of. I remember one time I told the youth pastor at this Baptist church across the street that anything is possible. He thought about it and said, "you know, that's really deep". Back then, I probably read as much as 1 chapter in the Bible, but God's Spirit was so strong in me that I was quoting Mark 10:27 - But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

I started speaking faith words to this boy that he never heard before in his life. I told him that he can do anything if he puts his mind to it just like he does with volleyball - he's an excellent volleyball player. These words took root into his heart and started to grow. He started getting A's and the last time I talked to him, he graduated, got a steady job and a Christian girlfriend too.

Remember what Jesus said about the Kingdom of God? Luke 13:18-19

Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

I took a couple of faith words, sowed it into the boy, he took hold of it and let it blossom in his heart. Now people around him benefits from his fruit. Isn't it the same as what God did?

God gave His Son, and when we believed in His Word for our salvation, it blossomed in our hearts to the point where we can't contain but share the Good News to others so that others may benefit from what God has sown.

Over the weekend, God revealed to me that I've been using the wrong scripture when praying over my tithes.

The first time I've ever heard that was when JesseD was talking about Hurricane Katrina.. JDM resides in New Orleans, and his house and ministry building were completely unaffected by the hurricane, whereas another pastor came to JD after the disaster and told JD how he lost everything. The pastor even used scripture. Then JD said the scripture the pastor used was a protection on him and his family.. not his belongings. So he used the wrong scripture - thank God he and his family are fine, but he lost all his stuff.

So for the past little while, I've been praying for my tithes according to Phil. 4:19 - "My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus". Everytime I prayed my tithes with that verse, it just didn't sit well with me - then God showed me this weekend. All my needs are already met.. but because all I ask for is my needs to be met, they are always met. What does that mean?

Thank God that He meets all my needs, but if my needs are always met, where's the abundance so I can give to others?? God is an abundant God.. that I know; Abraham got an abundance of animals and money after he followed God, Joseph was incredibly wealthy and was a blessing to others, Job got double what he lost after he took his authority over the devil, Solomon had tonnes of riches given to him when he was still walking with the Lord....

Let's take a look at 2 scriptures: Psalm 23:1,5 and Malachi 3:10

Ps 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.         
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

The reason why you don't want is because your cup is running over. Think about it, if you have a glass, and you keep pouring water to the point that it overflows, would you keep wanting more? Not really.. you just want to give it away because you don't have room to receive it all!

Sure, Christians always say that God is supposed to be your satisfaction that's why you should not be in want. But there's nothing wrong with wanting an abundance so that you can be a blessing to others.

Let's look at Malachi 3:10

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the LORD of hosts,

“ If I will not open for you the windows of heaven 
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it."

When we give tithes, God is supposed to pour out a blessing from heaven that we don't have room to receive it! Doesn't that just tell you what God's like? He's an abundant God! So why would you ever limit God by just meeting your needs? Isn't that kind of selfish? To meet only your needs instead of pouring out a blessing onto you so that you can give it away to meet other people's needs...!