Uncategorized – Page 8 – 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐫

Optimistic VS Pessimistic

One day a researcher placed two children in separate rooms. The first child was placed in a colorful room filled with all kinds of toys, while the other child was placed in a room full of horse manure.

But soon the child who was placed in a nice room asked to leave because he found the toys in his room boring and too breakable. Likewise with the other child, he also came out of his room but asked for a shovel to clean the room because he was sure there must be a pony around there.

From this story we will be able to reflect on how people view when placed in different situations. An optimistic person will never give up even though there are many challenges or when there are difficulties. It will even go forward. Those who remain optimistic will always have the belief that they can definitely achieve victory. Conversely, pessimistic people will easily give up if things don’t suit their heart.

A person’s perspective will determine the success he will achieve. As God’s people, we must have an optimistic outlook even though we are in a difficult situation. We must take action to keep moving forward and must not give up easily with the existing conditions, because this is one of the keys to success. Even if we fail, don’t be afraid because failure is just a process for us to achieve success. God will not allow us to be losers. So stay positive. Someone who gives up easily will find it difficult to achieve their hopes and dreams because they never take action.

In the midst of the life struggles we live in, let us not only have a negative outlook. But always have a sense of optimism and have faith in God. Remember that He created us more than conquerors. There may be many reasons that make us give up and be pessimistic, but with God there is always a reason for us to move forward to achieve success, because God always provides a way for us.

So no matter what our condition is today, don’t be afraid. Live life with God and stay optimistic. “So what shall we say about all that? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Swearing Tree

Salomon is the name of an island in an archipelago in the Western Pacific. Even though they have tasted modernization, the people here still have some unique traditions. One of them is shouting at the tree. This is usually done by local people on trees with roots that are very strong and difficult to cut with an axe.

The trick, some people will climb up the tree. After that they and the people below would scream at the tree together with swearing. This can occur from hours to forty days. After that, the tree will start to dry out. The leaves fall off and start to die so it is easy to cut them down.

From the story above, we are made aware of how big the impact that arises from every word we say. The impact is not only felt by humans or other creatures, even trees are also affected. With this fact, we should be more careful when we say something. Moreover, there is research, under normal human conditions, every human being utters around 18,000 words per day. It means that our opportunities every day to make an impact through words are enormous.

On the other hand, the story above also confirms God’s word which states: “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the heart and medicine to the bones.” . That is, good words will have a good impact, while bad words will have a negative impact. What about every word that we have said so far? Has it become a blessing that builds up the surrounding environment? Or maybe it has become a curse that makes life unpleasant. “Let no dirty words come out of your mouth, but use good words to build up, where necessary, so that those who hear them may have grace.”

Think positive, Speak encouragingly & Believe in yourself! Create happiness!

Money Is Everything?

“Human will love himself and become slave for money.”

Paul reminds Timothy of a phenomenon that will occur in the last days, that is, humans will love themselves, focus on themselves, not care about others, and become slaves to money. This means that now many people are enslaved by money.

They place money as everything in life. Waking up thinking about money, chasing money all day, planning how to get money tomorrow. There is an old Chinese saying: “Money is not everything, but without money one can do nothing.”

We have to admit that money has a very important role in human life, because there is not a single activity of human life under this sky, be it in daily life to activities that are spiritual in nature that do not require money. For example, to meet the most basic daily needs of life, we need a lot of money. Not to mention if we want a more decent life: quality schools, tutoring/courses, transportation, sports facilities; not a few costs that we have to spend. There is no exception to carry out calling tasks in ministry: God’s servants who work in His fields.

As long as money becomes a tool or a means of supporting life activities, it will not cause problems. But it becomes a problem if money has influenced the principles and lifestyle of each person. Money will cause polemic if we love money and are enslaved by it. “Do not be a servant of money because the root of all evil is the love of money. Because it is by chasing money that some people have deviated from the faith and tormented themselves with various sorrows.”

Money is important, but it will be very dangerous if we become slaves to money and love money.

For GodGod Shows No Partiality

Partiality of human life consisting of ethnicity, nation, race, economic status, caste, intellectual ability-academic titles, and so on. But God does not show partiality. When it comes to His judgment on human sin, God holds the same standard for all.

In truth, everyone is guilty of sin. Those who judge others are guilty, also, of hypocrisy. Nobody will escape God’s judgment for personal sin, God will absolutely judge each person according to what he or she has done.

If someone has lived sinlessly, doing only good, he will receive rewards and eternal life by grace through faith.

God does not discriminate, meaning He is fair to everyone; also He is willing to receive anyone who comes to Him. It is not a matter of honorable or despicable, rich or poor, but God sees how each person has lived.

Personal Guard

“For it is the LORD who gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He provides help for the honest, a shield for those who are blameless, while guarding the way of justice, and guarding the way of the righteous. His faithful.”

That personal guard is called “wisdom.” He does not come from the world but is a gift (GRACE) of God. The personal bodyguard is in the form of knowledge and intelligence.

Knowledge means understanding the situation well and intelligence is more of a wise action. The attitude of life that becomes a measure of knowledge and intelligence; not primarily on “educated” but “educated”. Smart people but twisted life are those who do not have knowledge and do not have intelligence.

What he does is help (in trouble), protect (like a shield) from the attacks of this world, guard the way of justice, and guard the way of God’s people. The attitude of people who are guarded by wisdom is honest, blameless in conduct, and faithful. “I find understanding from Your precepts, which is why I hate all lying ways.”

Have We Counted His Blessings Today?

How are we doing these days? Are we bored? Stressed? flat? busy?Or the opposite? or we start thinking, maybe we should take a break and take a vacation for a while. Wait a minute! Maybe we don’t need to take time off so often and make up excuses.

Try this! Start each day with joy. How we start our days will greatly affect the day we will live. Almost all successful and positive people have the same formula, which is to start the day with a positive attitude. And conversely, people who “have a bad day” usually also start from a bad morning.

Remember our life radiates from our heart. If we are joyful and positive, our life will be better and vice versa. Remember all the goodness of our Lord. He who has redeemed us, who is always with us because He is Immanuel. He is always able to help us in trouble. And He is also the one who plans a hopeful future.

“Count His blessings every day, and we will be amazed by Him.” We will be able to give thanks and be raised in faith. Have we counted His blessings today? Count God’s blessings one by one, then we will see how great His goodness to us.

Vengeance Is Not Ours

“Beloved, do not demand vengeance yourself, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written: Vengeance is mine. I will demand vengeance, says the Lord.”

For those who hold grudges or vengeance against others, there is nothing positive in their heart, but only evil designs. Saul harbored hatred and grudge against David because many people praised David: “Saul defeated thousands of enemies, but David was tens of thousands.” Because Saul’s heart was filled with hatred, the expressions that came out were only negative things, both through words and actions.

Revenge will only create inner suffering for the perpetrator. Joseph is an example of a person who is able to love and forgive his enemies. Although persecuted and made to suffer by his brothers Yusuf did not hold the slightest grudge, but instead he showed his love and generosity. “Indeed you have devised evil against me, but God has devised it for good, in order to do as it is now, which is to save the life of a great nation. So don’t be afraid, I will eat you and eat the children. your son too.” .

We are not allowed to take revenge on the enemy because revenge is the absolute right of God. Whoever seeks revenge against others means he has stolen the absolute right of God. Vengeance is not ours, but belongs to God Himself. It is our part to allow God to handle other people. Let God himself act because He has his own way and time to deal with problems that occur.

What must be done is this: “…if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink! In doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head.”. So the proper way to treat an enemy is to show him love and mercy. “…defeat evil with good”. Loving, being generous, and forgiving the enemy are ours; God’s part is to finish in His own way and time.

“Yes Man”

“Yes Man” is an American comedy film released in 2008 and starring Jim Carrey. This film is based on a true story and book published in 2005 and written by British comedian Danny Wallace. This film tells the character Carl Allen, played by Jim Carrey. Carl is a bank employee whose life is monotonous, flat, and boring. He is a gloomy person who likes to be alone and always says no to his friends.

Until one day Carl attended a seminar that taught him to always say, “Yes!” for whatever is asked of him. This is where the core story of the film begins to roll. The main character is often faced with a dilemmatic choice, whether he says “yes” to people who ask him for help with all the consequences.

In real life, we are often faced with situations like in the film. We get certain opportunities in our lives, whether we say “yes” to every opportunity that comes, or vice versa, we ignore the opportunity and let it pass from our lives. We never know that the opportunity that comes in our life is actually a turning point in our lives.

When we ignore this opportunity, we are actually throwing away the turning point we have been looking for so far. Can we imagine if David missed his chance to fight Goliath? Maybe his life path would be different. So it is with our lives. Do not easily ignore every opportunity that comes in our lives, because there are times when the opportunity does not come twice.

There are many people who play “safe” and turn down every opportunity that comes their way. Do not want to get a promotion for fear of not being able to. Some don’t want to be moved for fear of being uncomfortable.

Some do not dare to take certain opportunities for fear of failure. Opportunities like that sometimes don’t come twice, so don’t just say “no”. Learn to dare to say “yes” to every opportunity that comes in our lives.

Never waste an opportunity that is actually a turning point in our lives. Use every opportunity very well and don’t let the devil take that opportunity from us. “And don’t give the devil a chance.”

We Are Not Superman

Many people are sometimes amazed by the abilities or skills of a versatile coworker. Working on the system, managing production, foreign language and lobbying skills, mastered very well. Almost every job in the workplace he can do. Looks like he doesn’t need anyone else. The results of his work are often said to be almost perfect.

But once his workload piled up, he was exhausted, his co-workers were also reluctant to help because he usually preferred to work alone. Finally, the work flow is blocked in its part, queuing to be done. His all-powerful Superman-like skills have shrunk and no longer invite admiration.

Having these various abilities must be a blessing from God, but He gave them not so that we can become Superman, but to work together. Not also to exalt each other or put others down, but to use it in love.

A self-confident person is not afraid to teach others or feel challenged. By building other co-workers, we are sharing ourselves and sharing love and even sharpening our character.

In addition, we will have help when needed and the work becomes lighter. Make our abilities and skills a means to be a blessing to others.

“And even if I give away everything I have, even give my body to be burned, but if I do not have love, it is of no use to me.

Promise Keeper

“Your promises are well tested, and Your servants love them.”

Everyone in this world has generally made a promise to someone else or was promised something by someone else. For example: parents promise to buy something for their children; children promise to make parents happy in their old age; a young man makes a promise to his lover; a company leader promises to prosper his employees; etc.

The fact is: not all promises made by humans are kept, even humans have a tendency to break the promises they have made. That’s human nature: it’s too easy to make promises and so easy to break them. Thank God we have a God who never breaks anything He promises. If God promises He will certainly keep His promises. As believers, we are the ones who deserve God’s promises. Where do we find the promises? In the Bible.

Therefore, take time to read and meditate on God’s words every day so that we understand how countless God’s promises for His people are, whether they are promises that He has fulfilled, are fulfilling, and those that He will fulfill. Believe that sooner or later all of God’s promises will be fulfilled.

“God is not man, so that he lies and is not the son of man, so that he repents. Either he speaks and does not do it, or speaks and does not keep it”

This promise of God is the hope of believers. The state of this world may change, the economic situation may change, but we believe that God’s promises never change. His promises remain “yes” and “amen”.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

Everything in this world may be shaken, but we still believe that we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. As long as we are not affected by the situation. continue to believe in His words, wait patiently on God, and faithfully do what is ours, God’s promises will surely be fulfilled in this life.

“Confirm in Your servant this is Your promise, which applies to those who fear You.”