I think I’m a “Words of Affirmation” kind of guy. I thank God for all these words He’s spoken to me through my countless brothers and sisters in Christ. He’s already written His love letter to me and gives me all this for dessert. I’ll live daily by His Words.
Ok so a lot of Christian women I know and that I’ve formed friendships with are coming to the point in their lives in which they are searching for their significant other. Hence, I get a lot of questions like “Ying, where are all the Godly men?” and actually that’s about the only variation of the question I get. Now, these are legitimate God-fearing women from my church looking for God-fearing MEN. However, I get confused every time that question is brought up because I see my church and our college ministry littered with men. I guess the women at church aren’t seeing what I’m seeing in the brothers.
I’m writing this post because I love my ministry. I love the both my brothers and sisters in Christ. It just breaks my heart sometimes to know that my brothers are being mistaken as mere “boys” by the sisters. I want the sisters to see what I see in the brothers. I want to point the women to their brother’s Godliness. Sisters, some of you seem dissatisfied in your brothers so WOMEN OF SARANG ECOLLEGE, THIS ONE’s FOR YOU!
I’m going to teach you how to find the MAN OF GOD you so long for.
Ok, sisters, knowing the brothers in your ministry, I can count a out a handful of legitimate men of God. Where you’re problem lies is that YOU’RE NOT LOOKING FOR MEN, YOU’RE LOOKING FOR BOYS. Now I know you want men, so you’re desiring the right thing, but you’re looking for the wrong. Let me explain: so if you take any SAVED brother IN CHRIST in our ministry, you can “dissect” him into two parts. These two parts are the REDEEMED and BEING REDEEMED(the “MAN” you’re desiring)part and the UNREDEEMED(the sinful, “BOY” you’re looking at)part. Every brother in Christ is a New Man, but while he is still in his flesh, sin will still have a partial hold on him (Romans 7:18-20). But that sinful and unredeemed part of the brothers is what you so often see. It’s what you so often are quick to point out. And you’re not at fault because these things are so apparent in us. But still, you miss something mercurial. How then, sisters, can we find the men amongst our brothers?
Philippians 1:6 says this: “and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”. I’m going to work off this verse. Ok, what does this say about the brothers. That God is doing a GOOD WORK in them!! They are going through a process called SANCTIFICATION. They are being MADE Holy, not that they’ve attained holiness YET (Philippians 3:12-13), because they’re only going to be that on THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST. Only then will the be MEN TRULY CONFORMED TO GOD’s IMAGE. But you so often forget that there’s a lifelong process to reaching “MANHOOD”. This is typically what happens: You meet a brother, get to know him better, and start to pick up on his WEAKNESSES and SHORTCOMINGS. Yes, you notice some of the good parts about him but the shortcomings are much more apparent. Then you accuse that brother of still being a “boy”. Yet that very same brother is going through an unseen process: Christ is taking over and Sin is DYING in him. But the thing with sin is that the closer it gets to dying, the harder it fights back to claim that brother. That is why he STRUGGLES as he STRAINS towards spiritual manhood. To get to true Manhood is not a walk in the park. It’s a freaking war between the Christ that dwells within us against our flesh and the freaking DEVIL. So please, with all sincerity, forgive us if we are taking a little longer to attain this manhood. But ladies, you have a part to play to help us in this war.
This is what you are to do: SEARCH OUT and PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO HOW CHRIST MANIFESTS IN US. This is a difficult thing to do. It requires LOVE. It is one of the ways you can love us: to see the CHRIST that dwells within us. For every believing brother, this is a reality. Look for the leader, the servant, the worshipper, encourager, teacher, prophet, zealot, the compassion, the mercy, etc., within us. The difficult part is that not all of us have all these gifts. You must search them out and affirm them for us. Yes, affirm us of our STRENGTHS for these strengths are of the Spirit of God and it is the very manifestation of Christ in us. These are the things that Philippians 1:6 talks about. Take the focus off our weaknesses and shortcomings. Those things are dying within us. They are there to try to trick you into believing that our weaknesses are who we are, hence, causing you to accuse us for being boys. Rather, look at our strengths and our gifts, for in them you will see how Christ dwells within us, and whomever Christ dwells within is conforming to the image of Christ, and where a brother is conformed to the image of Christ; THAT is where the MAN OF GOD dwells.
So women, those men of God you want, they’re in your church, in your ministry. To find them, you must stop dwelling on our weaknesses. We know what they are. We struggle and wrestle with them daily. You need to seek out our strengths. You need to seek out how Christ manifests in us and affirm us because once we know how Christ dwells within us, in that identity, we’ll know how to be men.
Brothers, you must strive for Holiness. I know you’re not perfect, but you are daily being sanctified. You must actively seek out in yourself how He’s working in your life and you must also actively kill the sin that is still within you. And don’t forget 2nd Samuel 10:12. I’m fighting right there with you guys.
To those who read this, I hope it helped. I don’t know everything there is to know about God or Manhood. If you have any beef with this, let me know. I’m open to your thoughts. I just wrote this out of love for my ministry, for my brothers and my sisters. Sisters, I just wanted to defend the brothers I love just like I would’ve defended you if the brothers accused you of being mere “girls”. I only hope that my ministry grows closer through this. SARANG ECOLLEGE, this was for you guys. I see so many Men and Women in you guys, how Christ goes forth from you. It was a blessing writing this to you (Philippians 1:3-6). Can’t wait to worship with you again!!!
I don’t quite know what to say today. Well, it’s Valentine’s Day so I was thinking about you. The funny thing is that I don’t even know your face, your name, or even if you exist. I mean, I seriously hope you do, I believe you do, and I’m dying to meet you soon. Even so, you are very special to me. You’re the wife I’ve yet to have; you’re the partner that God has ordained for me. I’m not gonna lie, this is my first letter to you so I’m pretty excited about writing this.
Well, I guess I’ll start by apologizing. I mean, obviously we’re not ready for each other yet and a lot of that is on my part; not too sure about your side of the story. But yea, sorry it’s taking me so long to be ready. I’m still struggling and still trying to find out what it is to be a man of God. I’ll spare you the details right now because we’ll have plenty of time to go through those later but I promise you this though, God’s working in me. He’s developing me into a man; into the man that will lead you and spur you on towards the Father. I realize that the time spent on this may be coming at your expense but just know, His timing is perfect.
I also want to encourage you. I don’t know specifically what you’re going through, if you’re in a “wilderness” right now or if you’re “by still waters”, so I’ll keep it as generic and simple as possible: RUN HARD AFTER GOD. He loves you, He LOVES you, He is Love as it pertains to you, <———haha yea I don’t really have the words to describe it but He Loves you more than your family, friends, and I can ever love you. Oh, He also think you’re beautiful and perfect and He KNOWS you. I’ll also be running after God so try to catch up! Jesssss kidding. Maybe if I stumble you can catch up to me and pick me up! Nah, actually I’d like to think that you are running so hard that I’ll have to be the one to catch up. But seriously, no matter what the scope of our separate races may look like in comparison to each other right now, just run hard after God because I will be, and eventually we’ll be running side by side.
Lastly, I just want to tell you that I love you. No, it’s not too early to say that because I really do. I get excited every time I think about you. I have to admit, I stopped praying for you a little while back because I was idolizing you above God but those prayers will resume. Man, I really can’t wait until we get to share our stories and struggles and joys with each other. I can’t wait to hear your side of the story because I’m sure it’s a difficult wait for you too. But like I said earlier, I’m sorry for making you wait. I promise, it’ll all be worth it on the God-anointed day we say “I do”. Haha I just imagine us reciting the Song of Solomon to each other. Yea, the imagery’s a little kinky but I know you love God’s Word ;). I certainly do. But anyhow, I know you’re not with me today but here’s too the many February 14s we’ll be having together. CAN’T WAIT FOR YOU FUTURE WIFEY!!! I LOVE YOU and happy Valentine’s Day. Song 8:6.
- Me
p.s. I’m benching 3 plates for about 3-4 reps. Just f.y.i. so you know you ain’t ending up with a sucka!! haha. yea i know a lot of girls don’t really care about this but what can I say? You end up with Me so that’s something you’ll appreciate haha!
dude sorry hyemin I was going to reply to your post but you don’t allow people to reply =(. But here’s a post to express my excitement over the news!
send me a support letter.
#getrocked
#dispelthedarkness
#S.D.G.
Disclaimer: I took some motivational speech from some dude named Eric Thomas and tweaked the words as to attempt to give the Biblical purpose for suffering.
Me:
…FREAK! this friggen sucks lollipops, FML, SMH, OMG, ABC, BCD. THORNSthornsTHORNSthorns, whyyyyyyyyyyy, blah blah blah…
God:
Listen to me son, Pain is TEMPORARY.
It may last for a minute, an hour, or a day, or even a year,
but eventually it will subside, and SOMETHING ELSE will take it’s place (Romans 8:18).
If you quit, however, it will last forever.
You’re SPOILED, I’m gonna be real with you You’re spoiled, bottom line.
Your parents did everything for you, I did everything for you,
your church did everything for you.
Every time I put you through something, you’d call me a Tyrant.
You’re right, I’m tough on you, you’re right, I’m hard on you,
but I’m developing a MAN (Hebrews 12:6)
because I took you out of places you were comfortable with and said
“You need to grow up”.
And you need to grow up so I DARE you to take a little pain.
I dare you to go through a little suffering.
I know it’s painful being away from people you love,
who’ve love you, and I know you feel alone here
but GO THROUGH it because I’ve CALLED you away for something great.
Besides, you ain’t gonna die, You ain’t bleeding (Hebrews 12:4).
At the end of pain and suffering is MY GLORY (Romans 8:17).
You ain’t gonna die because you feel a little bit of loneliness.
Persevere man I got something GREAT in store for you.
Look a little further man, you’ll see what STEPHEN saw (Acts 7:56).
Hypertrophy son, say it with me, you’re favorite word
HAHY-PUR-TRUH-FEE.
You say you’re not being fed here like you were in SoCal
but that’s why you’re going to the NEXT LEVEL
because if you keep getting fed like you did there,
you would keep being a boy.
It’s time to be a MAN.
You ASKED for the KINGDOM and it’s going to be yours (Psalm 2:8)
but you have to commit your ENTIRE BEING to this call.
You got to breathe it, you gotta eat it, you gotta sleep it,
and until you get there, you’ll never do anything great for my Kingdom.
But once you get there, the Kingdom, your inheritance, is YOURS.
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
ME: …oh wow, what is this?…this thorn, ow thorn THORN THORNTHORNTHORNTHORNasdlktha;iodfjapfaiasldkhtafe!! GOD do something about this!
GOD: My Grace is sufficient
ME: Yea, I knew You were going to say that and I know that it worked lasttime but this time is different…Can’t You just give me a little more than that answer?
GOD: My Grace is sufficient
ME: wow really??!!
GOD: YEA FOO! WHAT YOU NEED PROOF? Take a look back at the last couple years…
GOD: That enough?
ME: Yea, point taken
GOD: Well just wait, I got more for you
ME: =*). CAN’T WAIT
Thus says the Lord God to these Bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. - Ezekiel 37:5-6
I look at my city and it’s Ezekiel 37
A valley of dry bones, man, it’s far from heaven.
Faceless, broken, enslaved to sin;
Beautiful on the outside, but aklsjdaeituyksdgkjaieutyahklghaeti within.
Redemption, however is at hand, and
I know what You did then and there
You’ll also do now and here.
Yes they’ll hear the sound of Your Word
Powerful and sharp, a strong and mighty sword
and soon, these dry bones will know their Lord.
Because I’ve seen You elicit praise from a face-
less man, with no place
to call home, making his throne
on a street corner, cardboard box to keep away the cold.
There’s no hope
in his face and he’s waning in faith,
but You turn his fortune around with a haste,
surrounding him with your warm embrace
and You leave him in all but a daze, gaze-
ing the beauty, power, glory,wonder, thunder, magnificencegreatnessmagnitudeabundanceenormityintesityimensity
of Your Grace,
of You
Whom this city belongs to.
This is a story about how God answered an outrageous prayer from a faceless and faithless man named Kirk. Kirk has no home, makes his throne a plastic crate on a street corner hiding his face behind a cardboard homeless sign.I met Kirk when I went downtown to study for one of my personal trainer exams.
I went to starbucks, bought a white chocolate mocha, and got to my studying. Two hours later, I consequently had to take a mad piss due to the drink. However, that Starbucks did not have a restroom so I had to leave and find one elsewhere.
I went outside and was greeted by the sight of darkness and brokeness embodied in the countless homeless people there. So I took care of my business and was filled with the conviction to prayerwalk around the city. Pray, pray, pray, walk, walk, walk, blah, blah, blah, and after an hour of that, I just felt a crazy anointing to pray for NE1 (anyone) and was so assured that whatever I prayed for someone, God would answer.
Enter Kirk. Out of all the homeless dudes at downtown SF, God led me to this guy. He needed food and wanted a burger so I bought him some of the King’s burgers. As he was scarfing that thing down like no tomorrow, I asked him if there was anything he wanted me to pray for. Remember, I felt like God was gunnafinna answer anything. I was expecting some physical ailment that needed healing. Instead I got this, “pray that someone would walk by and hand me a hundred bucks”.
“A hunned bucks??!!” I thought, “good luck God in answering that prayer” cuz u know, nobody goes around giving a Bill to some homeless guy not knowing what he’ll do with that money. But still, God put it upon my heart to pray that prayer. He let me stand in the gap for that man, and He wanted to hear me, His son, pray. As I prayed for a Hundred to fall on that man’s lap, God asked me “how badly do you want to see that man’s prayer answered?”.
And then it hit me.
Me: “NOOOOOOOOO, God you’re not really telling me to give this dude a BILL. I don’t know what he’s gonna do with that money”.
God: “Foo, this man needs to know MY LOVE. It’s not up to you what that guy does with the money. It’s up to YOU to be the embodiment of my love”
Me: “AWWWWWWWWWasdghasdi;ofuaisdfaklsdgash”
God: “…”
Me: “KK”
So that was the conversation I had with God while I walked to the nearest ATM. Heaviest. Walk. Ever. Not really. But yea, I withdrew the hundred dollars and went back to Kirk. As I approached him, I was really convicted that God wanted to hear him pray. So I asked:
Me: “Do you believe that God answers prayer?”
Kirk: “Well, sometimes”
Me: “I think he wants to hear you pray what you asked me to pray for at first”
Kirk (to God):” Father… … … … … … I ask that you’ll send someone here to give me a hundred bucks”
And so God heard His prayer. He received the hundred bucks he prayed for (good thing he didn’t pray for a thousand). His face lit up and, long story short, He picked up his plastic crate and went his way looking for food and shelter, all the while Praising God. God heard the prayer of this homeless man and answered it. What a grace to witness all this transpire! Honestly, I don’t know what became of that money. All I know is that God showed His love to a hopeless and homeless man and Kirk left his street corner with the Father’s embrace.
#DarknessDispelled
Cool story huh? Shall I tell it again? Nah. But no worries! More stories like this are yet to come! Praise GOD. God Bless
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. -Acts 20:24
My course has truly been a grace to run.
Should I keep pace, I know the Son
I’ll face when all is done,
and this race is indeed won.
Past four years, testament of His love,
Meant to empower and anoint me
With Holy Spirit, like a dove,
Let me know His grace is free,
A perfect gift, comes from above
Now He’s taken me into a new bend
In this course that’s yet to end.
His Love I’ll show to NorCal friends
And family relationships that need amends.
My Love and Prayers to Socal I send
See you guys once more when we Ascend.
Long to be with you women and men,
but God’s will be done, I shout AMEN!!
But really, thank God for the Cross
Because through it, our fellowship cross-
es over the distance and I know
I’m not up here alone, but sewn
together with you, He calls us His own,
prepared for us a Heavenly home
calling us heirs with Christ to the Throne.
We’ll sing with the Heavenly Hosts
To the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
No idea how to end this post,
so…
I just want to thank God for all of you that I’ve been able to meet in SoCal. You were definitely a blessing and a testament of God’s love for me. I promise to you that I’ll show NorCal the same love that God has shown me through you guys. Thank you, I look forward to worshiping with you again, not only back in SoCal but on the Holy Hill of Zion. Keep running the race, stay your course, testify to the gospel of God’s grace. I’ll see you soon and very soon!!
