Have you ever asked God for protection? When I was little, I used to pray every night before I went to sleep that God would protect me and my family and even the family members I didn't know from any harm. I was mainly scared that a robber would come into our house, and I just wanted everyone to be protected.

But did you know that God not only gives physical protection (from robbers, accidents, etc.), but God also gives us all sorts of protection? God gives us spiritual protection by keeping us from falling into evil thoughts or actions. God also gives us emotional protection by comforting us when we feel hurt, scared, or mad. God gives mental protection by blocking things from our mind that shouldn't be there (like worry).

God loves to protect us because God loves us. He wants what is best for us and part of that is protection.

However, God also requires that we learn to also protect ourselves--using our human responsibility. That means being prepared by wearing our seatbelt when we get in the car, by reading our Bible and praying, or by not thinking about things that will cause us mental stress.

God is bigger than our fears and He is there to protect us. He gave us the best protection by sending Jesus down to save us from our sins. He protected us from the very thing that would give us ultimate harm. 

How do you see God protecting you today?

Until next time,

This past weekend, my whole family on my mom's side got together to go to a family reunion in Hilton Head, South Carolina. This is the first time in about eight years that we have all been together (although some still couldn't make it).

The one thing that I shared with my younger cousins was that even though we have a big family with a lot of opinions, we are truly blessed because at the end of the day, we all still love each other. We do not let our differences affect how much we care about each other and how we serve each other. It was a sign of true love.

Do you feel that way about your family? What about your close friends? Sometimes we can just feel at home and at ease with certain people. We can show them our worst and best side because we know that we will be loved either way and vice versa.

Did you know that this is also how God wanted the family of Christ? When God calls us heirs to his inheritance, it means we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. That means anyone who is a believer is also our brother and sister. In the same way, even if we meet a stranger but they are a believer, we are their brother and sister. We should and can have the same feelings we have towards our blood family and close friends. 

When we find that we have disagreements with believers or differences between believers, we are still called to love them in their worst and their best. Above all, we as Christians must realize that the only reason we can love anyone--whether they are our real family, Christian family, or even non-Christian friends is because God has given us this love. He poured out so much unconditional and undeserving love on us so that we could show love to others.

Knowing this, let's make sure that we also overflow in love towards one another!

 Until next time,

On Saturday, I watched the remake of Spiderman (similar to the one made only 5 years ago). Now usually when you go to movies, you aren't necessarily looking for how God can be a part of your movie-watching experience, but I believe that since movies are made to elicit a certain human reaction or depict a certain human struggle, God must be a part of it because God created humans!

For those of you who haven't seen the movie or haven't seen the old version, a boy whose father is a scientist who has discovered a way to take information from one species (in this case a spider) and transplant it into
another species (a human) accidentally gets bit by one of the spiders and becomes SPIDERMAN. He has super strength and is super agile and quick. In addition, he can shoot out spider webs from his hands!

In the story, Spiderman struggles with his newfound powers and starts to use them for his own personal gain. He tries to get revenge on a bully who has been bothering him, and he fails to save a store clerk from a robber because the clerk was rude to him. Because he did not use his powers for good, his uncle ends up dying by the hands of the robber that Spiderman could have taken down. It wasn't until then that Spiderman realized that his powers were given to him so that he could use them for good.

This is the same as the gifts and talents that God has given us. Some of us are smart. Some of us are athletic. Others of us are creative and artistic. Whatever talent or skill you have that you are proud of, remember that it is first given to you by God. Just as Spiderman did not have the powers until he was bitten by a spider, we have nothing unless God has given it to us through His grace.

However, instead of using our powers for evil, we must strive to use it for His ultimate good--not even for our own personal good but for God's good. That could mean sharing the gospel to our friends so that we can build up the Kingdom of God or it could mean not arguing with our friends and family even though we want to.

Ephesians  4: 7, 11-13 "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. It was he who gave some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."   We have been given gifts according to how Christ (by grace) has given to us. We all have different roles and different talents. 
Luke 12:48 "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been  entrusted with much, much more will be asked."  And with those gifts and talents, we are called to do great things for Him.

Until next time,