So I think being home sick is finally starting to kick in. It was different in Montreal because I always had the brothers with me. And even in Quebec City, I had made some good friends who I'd hang out with after class + my housemates were awesome. Here, I've been trying to keep myself busy to avoid missing home. Work is going great, I'm learning lots every day. But I still miss family and friends a lot. I miss the home cooked meals. The daily tennis. The prayer times. The saints. The meetings. But I'm learning to turn to the Lord for all comfort. He placed me here for a reason and I'm just open to all the Christ is to be gained here.
This past weekend I was in Whidbey Island for the college retreat. I wasn't planning to go until I received a phone call from Emannuel's mom at 10:30pm on Thursday night, who said she could pick me up from the ferry terminal. Praise the Lord for the members in the Body! Some enjoyment below:
The topic of this retreat was God's Full Salvation, with a particular emphasis on judicial redemption. I enjoyed that we need a thorough and deep appreciation of this because God's organic salvation is maintainedconstantly through God's judicial redemption. Understanding how firm and solid of a foundation we have in redemption will help us in our experience of organic salvation.
The judicial aspect of salvation is to meet the righteous requirements of God's law through Christ's redemption, as the procedure of salvation. This includes forgiveness (Eph. 1:7), cleansing (1 John 1:9), justification (Rom. 3:24), reconciliation (Rom. 5:10), and positional sanctification.
The brother asked us a question in our Q&A session: when was the last time you applied the blood? We have to realize that we need the blood every time we come to the Lord, coming to Him on His merit and not based on who we are, how good of a day we've had, how we're feeling, etc. The example he used was the high priests in the OT, who had to sprinkle the blood on the expiation cover of the ark before meeting God face to face. If the cherubim did not see the blood when the high priest would come to the ark, the priests would die instantly. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23), so we have an insurmountable debt that we could never pay. But hallelujah, He paid it for us! And we have the receipt as the resurrected Christ. For spiritual application, we need to humble ourselves before the Lord, realize we are sinners, and apply the blood constantly tomaintain our fellowship with God, otherwise we will have spiritual death.
Another question was, how do we know if the blood is operating? The brother pointed out Exo. 12, where the children of Israel applied the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts on the Passover with a hyssop plant. Hyssop plants are very small (2-5cm wide leaves). This signifies that we apply the blood with only a little hyssop (little faith). We just need a little bit of faith in the blood, and we get this faith by the hearing of the word. This word is our boldness to declare to God and even to Satan that we are fully justified. Don't apply the blood by your feeling. Once the children of Israel applied the blood, they went inside their house, meaning that they didn't have doubts about the blood. In the eyes of God, the blood of Jesus is fully acceptable. We can have peace toward God! We don't need to wallow in our sins until we feel better. We don't need to try to make up for it with good deeds. We simply need to know the value and preciousness of the blood of the Lamb.
Hearing about this word made me fall freshly in love again with the Lord Jesus. The blood is something so sweet, practical, application, and experiential. But once we apply the blood, we shouldn't just run in circles around the bronze altar. We need to go on to organic salvation, to the Holy of Holies, living in the presence of the Lord moment by moment.
Pursuing the Lord with the bros was great!
My secret spot for morning revival at 6:30am..
Baptism
Praise the Lord for this divine transfer into the kingdom of God!
Proof to Pa and Ma that I can cook. Here's my shepherds pie. I try to cook a new dish every week.
Cod + Veggies. I'll be making chicken macaroni casserole tomorrow!
We received a pleasant visit by 25 saints from the Lower Mainland (mostly Richmond) to the church in Victoria. Small localities are really supplied and treasure visits by saints :D *hint to Lower Mainland saints
Looking forward to my visit back home during the next long weekend. Please keep me updated with how you're all doing.
*edit (Nov. 2) - please leave me some suggestions of dishes I should try cooking and I'll post pictures of my attempts! I need more ideas. Thanks!
I'm glad you enjoyed your college retreat at Whidbey Island over the weekend. Thanks to Louella for facilitating the delivery of your passport. Your cuisines - sheperds pie & cod with veges look yummy. Did you cook for the love feast ?
ReplyDeletePat, I just read your blog now and didn't know you have posted your enjoyment at the college retreat. Praise the Lord for His precious blood. We should apply His blood every time we come to contact Him so we can enjoy His presence and dispensing. Thank God He doesn't require us to have big faith, small faith is enough for us to be accepted by Him.
ReplyDeleteI like your spending some quiet time with the Lord. We should have more private time with the Lord. This is to have some hidden life with the Lord, otherwise our Christian life is just a suferficial. When we have more hidden life with the Lord, this give us the opportunity to strike deep and have more inward growth, more roots. And spontaneously there will be manifestation of inner growth; that is we express the Lord in our daily life and this is our testimony.
I am so proud of you now you can prepare good meals. Can't wait one day to eat your cooked delicious meals. Papa and I always think about you. If Papa cooks a good meal, I always think if you have good food there in Victoria and how I wish you are here to taste the food.
Take care and feel free to call us at least once a week, maybe after your exam, this is another way to soothe your home sick.
love, mama