Cukup

Di dalam ibadah itu ada hubungan antara Bapa dengan kita. Bapa yang empunya segalanya dengan kita yang menantikan breakthrough dalam segala hal kehidupan. Firman Tuhan menuliskan ibadah perlu disertai dengan rasa cukup. Mengapa cukup? Karena Bapa tidak membutuhkan uang kita, tidak butuh jabatan top level kita, tidak butuh alphard di garasi kita, tidak butuh deposito dan saham kita. Karena Dia Bapa yang punya segalanya. Cukup berbicara tentang rasa syukur. Syukur akan apa yang kita bisa lihat, dengar, dan timbul di pikiran kita mulai kita membuka mata di pagi hari hingga menutup mata dalam istirahat di malam hari : rumah, kesehatan, cuaca, oksigen, keluarga, kendaraan, makanan, dan akan banyak sekali sebenarnya untuk disebutkan. Tetapi orang yang tidak mengerti rasa cukup itu cirinya melihat apa milik orang lain yg ingin dia punya juga. Firman Tuhan memberitahu: jangan mengingini milik sesamamu dalam konteks materi. Milikilah Tuhan maka itu akan memberi keuntungan besar. Apakah cuma modal syukur dan hubungan dengan Bapa bisa punya cuan besar? Itulah rahasia yang jarang anak-anak Tuhan dapatkan karena kuncinya ada di intimacy with God. Hidup mati kita tidak akan membawa apapun ke Surga. Firman Tuhan itu adil, Tuhan waktu menciptakan Adam bilang boleh makan apapun kecuali pohon pengetahuan yg baik dan jahat. Kehilangan hubungan dengan Tuhan akibat dosa membuat Adam kehilangan segala berkat yg Tuhan udah letakkan buat dia: taklukkan bumi dan berkuasa, bertambah banyak dan beranak cucu. Tapi Tuhan masih memberi jalan buat Adam berusaha dan berpakaian, sisanya hidup bergantung dengan Tuhan dalam segala apa yg dikerjakannya.  Yesus juga bilang di Matius 6, kalau kamu bisa makan dan punya pakaian, jangan kuatir. Itu hanya modal, cari kerajaan Sorga, artinya cari jati diri kita di kerajaan itu apa? Kalo kita sudah menemukan siapa kita di kerajaan dan mengerti kuasa yang kita punya, Yesus bilang don't worry, semua diberikan Bapa buat kita. Oleh karena itu, mari belajar mencari Tuhan dalam HUBUNGAN yg disertai rasa CUKUP karena itu memberikan keuntungan BESAR (1 Timotius 6:6-8) :)

Selamat menjalani hari dengan hati yang melimpah dengan syukur!

10 Habits of a Happy Marriage

I suppose everyone has their secrets.

I definitely have mine.

Although, I'd have to tell you that I never looked at it that way, until one of our daughters mentioned it. Actually, she said she "caught" me. She noticed I did certain things that seemed to make a difference. Ways of diffusing tension. Small steps toward loving him. Habits that helped with the happiness of our marriage.

So, yes, I guess I do have my "secrets" and they're really rather simple ones. Nothing big or brilliant, but I'll share them in case you find that they make a difference in your marriage too.

1. Smile warmly first thing in the morning. Okay, so I'm not exactly a morning person. You could say I’m more of a grumpy, where's-my-coffee, kind of person. But I have determined to greet him with the warmest, most loving smile I can muster. Boy! Does this set a wonderful tone for the day.

2. Do more kissing than complaining. This was the one I was "caught" doing. My husband had done something rather irritating. Downright irksome. And my daughter was watching it all from across the room. Rather than reacting, I laughed and planted a big, juicy one on his lips. Hah! That'll teach him. :)

3. Take timing into consideration. So my tendency is to blurt out what I'm feeling...when I'm feeling it. But I'm learning to hold back until I can communicate what I have to say in a calm manner and when he's in a better place to hear me out. It's so worth waiting for the right moment.

4. Make your bedroom a beautiful place. I like turning our room into a lovely oasis for us both. To make sure it’s a clean, warm, and inviting place - somewhere that he knows he can find order and peace. Somewhere special that he wants to be with me.

5. Pick and choose the issues you care about. Decide not to jump on every possible offense. Save your "coupons" for those things that truly matter to you. For instance, I care far less about who takes out the trash than I do about the way he talks to me.

6. Purpose to connect with him each day. We like to have coffee together every morning. And I like to send along a short love note, give him a quick call in the middle of the day, or simply snuggle into him at the end of the evening.

7. Pay attention to the details. The way he likes his coffee. When he feels like talking...and when he doesn't. When he needs an item that I could pick up for him while in town. Those tiny details that express love to him.

8. Bless him with a kind word. Pass on a word of encouragement or appreciation. Make it your daily habit to say something nice to him. It's amazing how that small kindness builds up to something big over time.

9. Reach out and touch him. Before you go to sleep at night. Even if he crawls in bed later than me, I like to reach over and remind him that I'm there. And that I'm always his girl. I want him to drift off thinking about my love for him.

10. Tell him, "I love you." Every day. Who doesn't need to be reminded that he is loved? That he is your special guy? Mine still likes to hear it, even though I've been telling him so for over 20 years now. I figure he’s heard it close to 7, 655 times - give or take a time or two. That's a lot of love.

So those are some of my secrets. Ten of them. It's not much, I know, but I do believe they've made a difference. Our daughter thinks so too. In fact, she's confided that she wants to carry those secrets into her future marriage as well.

I hope she does.

Some secrets are meant to be passed on.

In His grace,
Lisa Jacobson

Source here

Did God Really Say?

1 Now the serpent said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
Genesis 3:1-3

There are some questions we have no business trying to answer.

The first sin in human history wasn’t just pride. That’s the common interpretation, and it’s partially true, but it’s not the whole story. The first sin was disbelief in something God had said. A promise He had made. And it all started with an innocent question.

Satan implanted four simple words in Eve’s mind: Did God really say? An innocent question. But a question she had no business trying to answer. He got her to scrutinize something she was simply called to believe. She fell for it. Ate the fruit. And people have now been scrutinizing God and His promises ever since.

Satan’s strategy towards us is still the same today. His primary question is still: Did God really say…? If he can get us to innocently question God’s promises or His character, the rest will take care of itself. Just ask the Israelites who listened to the 10 spies’ negative report of the Promised Land.

Now of course there’s room to ask tough questions about God. You’d have a mindless faith if you didn’t. Of course there’s room for wondering how we navigate the tensions of this world that we live in that’s so often a waiting room between the promises God has made and their fulfillment. You wouldn’t live in reality if you didn’t.

Nevertheless, we always have to remember:
Like the Israelites in the Promised Land, you’re called to explore God’s promises, not scrutinize them.

There really are some questions you have no business trying to answer. Questions whose only answer can ever really be, “God has said.”

Is God really good if people are dying in Japan and from tornadoes?
Can God really heal people?
Has God really forgiven me?

That’s not land you’re supposed to scrutinize. Not because it isn’t important. But because God hasn’t called you to validate His promise of His goodness. His healing power. His forgiveness. Or any other promise He has made. He’s called you to believe it.

Is it difficult? Of course. But since when has faith ever been easy?

Don’t waste time trying to validate a promise that God has simply called you to believe.

Some people will say that just means you’re brainwashed.
I say it just means you’re born again.
And you don’t want to repeat the mistakes of Adam and Eve again.

To us, Through us

Samuel’s word came to all Israel.
1 Samuel 4:1

That’s what we all want.

Sometimes for the right reasons. To build the Church.
Sometimes for the wrong ones. To build a crowd.

But I believe that ultimately, like Samuel, we should all want to see the Word of God flow through us to every possible person within our sphere of influence. Our entire city. Our entire country. Even the entire world.

If you’re a pastor and that’s not the desire of your soul, it’s time to find another line of work. If you’re not a pastor and it’s not the desire of your soul, it’s time to realign your perspective. Or your heart. Your profession is your pulpit. And it’s one that God wants to use to reach the people in your workplace that your pastor may never have an opportunity to preach to.

But there’s necessary groundwork that needs to be done first before God’s Word can flow through us. In the immediately preceding verse in chapter 3, it says:

The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
1 Samuel 3:21

Samuel’s preparation was getting God’s Word to flow to him. God’s Word has to flow to us before it can flow through us. Before we reveal God to others, it’s essential to get a revelation of God for ourselves. And it has to happen through His Word. There are no shortcuts to 1 Samuel 4:1. You have to go through 1 Samuel 3:21 first.

Some people try. They skip to and try to go to through immediately. Their impact is minimal. Even if sometimes their numbers are great. Because then it’s just their word. And no one needs that.

In 4:1, it says that it was Samuel’s word that went out to all Israel. It sounds appealing. But it’s actually horrifying. Israel did not need Samuel’s word. They needed God’s.

And that’s just what they got. Samuel’s word was God’s Word. But only because 3:21 had happened. That’s why Samuel reached and changed the entire nation.

No ministry of any eternal significance throughout history has ever thrived without the Word flowing to it. None. Whether you’re a pastor, a business executive, or a temp, yours isn’t going to be the first.

So before you try to get the Word to flow through you, get it to flow to you. Do whatever you have to do.

Read your Bible for fifteen minutes a day.
Memorize the passage you’re preaching.
Go crazy and read through the Bible in 90 days.

Let the Word flow to you. You’ll be amazed at what happens when it then flows through you.

Steven Furtick

Specific Instruction, Immediate Obedience

There’s power in specific instructions from God followed by immediate obedience by us. In fact, I think this is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated parts of our faith. And it’s also one of the most powerful dynamics that can either thwart your potential and intimacy with God, or take it to whole new heights.

Examples of specific instructions that require immediate obedience are littered throughout the Bible.

• God gave specific instructions to Noah to build an ark. Noah obeyed and God used it to save the family that would repopulate the world after the flood.
• God told Abraham to leave his country and go to the land God would show him. He did and it was through his descendants that the Savior of the world would come.
• An angel of the Lord told Joseph to take Mary as his wife. Joseph obeyed and became the adopted father to Jesus.

And those are just three instances. I didn’t even mention Moses and the Tabernacle, Joshua at Jericho, Gideon’s instructions to reduce his army, Peter walking on water, or any of the crazy things the prophets were told to do.

I’ve found that it’s often the simplest commands and the simplest acts of obedience that have the deepest and longest lasting results. And become the foundation for larger assignments of faith later (Luke 16:10). Great opportunities later necessitate immediate obedience now.

So what specific instruction has God given you recently? Maybe even today?

Regarding your family? Your job? Your church? Your circle of influence? Your possessions? Your future? Your relationship with Him?

Don’t calculate. Don’t second-guess. And don’t delay. Just do it now.

Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that your life is too big for you to obey a simple instruction from God. You will never outgrow the need to immediately obey anything God tells you to do.

And you might as well obey God now. Delaying won’t make it any easier…only more complicated.

Steven Furtick

God Blesses His Plan, Not Yours

“From now on, every generation will call me blessed! For he, the Mighty One, is holy, and he has done great things for me. He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.” (Luke 1:48b-50 NLT)

Mary, the mother of Jesus, knew that faith and obedience are the keys to God’s blessing, so she chose to go with God’s destiny for her life.

Now, as a pastor, I want God to bless your life. I want him to bless you spiritually. I want him to bless you financially. I want him to bless your career and family and relationships and health. But if you have a plan for your life — I’ll tell you — you’re on your own.

God is not going to bless your plan. God did not put you on Earth to live for yourself. He put you on Earth for something much bigger than that. And when you go with his plan for your life, he will bless it.

Mary could sing about God’s plan for her life because she was excited about it. Even though it would cause problems, people would misunderstand her, and she would be accused of wrongdoing, Mary trusted God. She knew God would bless her and that even generations to come would remember what God did through her.

Guess what? The same thing is true of your life, too. What you do with your life will be remembered not just on Earth but also in eternity forever and ever. How you serve and love others according to God’s will for your life will leave a legacy on Earth and in eternity: “My Father will honor anyone who serves me” (John 12:26 NCV).

Could Mary have said “no” to God’s destiny for her life? Yes. God never forces you to go with his plan, because he wants you to choose to love him. That’s why he gave you free will instead of making you a puppet. That’s why the vast majority of people miss God’s destiny. They choose to go their own way instead of saying, like Mary, “Whatever you want to do with me, I’m your servant. I accept your destiny for my life.”

Rick Warren

Batam di HatiMU

Hari ini khusus doain kota Batam dan provinsi Kepulauan Riau dalam visi SUMATRA FOR JESUS.
Beda dengan Padang kemarin, hari ini berasa lawatan Tuhan sampe mengucurkan air mata waktu berdoa.



Kenapa Batam dan bukan Tanjung Pinang?
Tanjung Pinang memang ibukota provinsi, tetapi Batam adalah kota terbesar di Sumatra ketiga setelah Medan dan Palembang. Artinya seluruh pusat kegiatan berada di Batam. Dan lagi Batam punya arti khusus secara ekonomi nasional. Punya batasan dengan negara Singapura, Laos, Vietnam, dan Malaysia. Yang berarti juga meluaskan visi GMS jadi ASIA TENGGARA FOR JESUS (bahasa campur2 lol).

Aku klaim Batam, Tuhan, jadi kota perintisan gereja dan komsel kami, segala orang yang membangun kerajaan-Mu datang bersegera. dan orang yang menggagalkan rencana-Mu meninggalkan Batam. Dalam nama Yesus, amin!

Batam for Jesus!

God Specializes in Impossible Dreams

When the pursuit of your dream deteriorates from difficult to impossible, congratulations! You're in good company.

Even Paul went through dead ends: "At that time we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end. Yet we believe now that we had this experience of coming to the end of our tether that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God who can raise the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:8-9 PH)

2 Korintus 1:8-9
8 Sebab kami mau, saudara-saudara, supaya kamu tahu akan penderitaan yang kami alami di Asia Kecil. Beban yang ditanggungkan atas kami adalah begitu besar dan begitu berat, sehingga kami telah putus asa juga akan hidup kami.
9 Bahkan kami merasa, seolah-olah kami telah dijatuhi hukuman mati. Tetapi hal itu terjadi, supaya kami jangan menaruh kepercayaan pada diri kami sendiri, tetapi hanya kepada Allah yang membangkitkan orang-orang mati.

If God can raise people physically, he can raise people who are dead emotionally. He can raise a dead marriage. He can resurrect a dead career. He can resurrect you from a health problem.

God told Abraham he'd be the father of a nation, but then Abraham had to wait until he was ninety-nine years old before he had his first child. The Bible shows Abraham's situation going from difficult to impossible.

But Sarah got pregnant, and they laughed about it. When the baby was born, they named him Isaac, which means laughter.

God often lets problems become impossibilities.

What's the best response to a dead end? "He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and He will deliver us; we have placed our hope in Him that He will deliver us again." (2 Corinthians 1:10 HCSB)

2 Korintus 1:10
Dari kematian yang begitu ngeri Ia telah dan akan menyelamatkan kami: kepada-Nya kami menaruh pengharapan kami, bahwa Ia akan menyelamatkan kami lagi,

Rick Warren

Padang di HatiMU

Memasuki hari ketiga prayer dan fasting, hari ini aku membawa kota Padang dan Provinsi Sumatera Barat.



But I got no specific thing about this city actually.
But I kept singing praise and worship for blessing this city.

Perhaps I should go to Padang first since I had never been there yet =p

Never Ready Faith

A lot of people weren’t ready in the Bible – Abraham wasn’t ready when God called him, Moses wasn’t ready, the disciples were never ready and they never got it. Even when they got it they still didn’t get it. Each time they were ready they started to doubt because their faith was in their readiness.

Jeremiah 1:4-10 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” 6Then said I: “Ah, Lord God!Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” 7But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. 9Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”

• God always look at the hearts, never the appearance.
• There’s the time where God shapes you and calls you for something and then there’s the time where you become aware of it and responsive to it.
• “I am not ready” is just an excuses because you will never been ready.
• He’s got options and you just have to show up! Present yourself to God.. Here I am.

Mark 8:13-21 And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. 14Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. 15Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”16And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.”17But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? 18Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.” 20“Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” And they said, “Seven.” 21So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?”

• The disciples had just seen Jesus multiply the five loaves and 2 fishes, but yet they forgot. You’re never ready, it’s not about your preparation. God is with you.
• There is no need for God to tell us the details, but He cares about every detail.
• God doesn’t need me to be ready – I will never be. He just wants me to obey and follow Him (ask for His supernatural wisdom).
• Insecurities happen because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.

1. Cancel the audition! God CHOSE you!

Compared how some people may feel with those auditioning for the TV show “The Voice.” “Cancel the audition, you’ve already got the part. A lot of people spend their whole lives waiting on somebody to hit a button, turn around, and choose them,” he said. “A lot of believers spend their whole walk with God performing, trying out, feeling bad, waiting on God to hit a button and turn around and say now He loves you. God said before you were born ‘I chose you.’” Isn’t that enough?

• He chose you before you were born.
• You don’t need to impress God. You don’t need to try out, you just have to live out what God has already placed in you.
• God gave you the part not because of anything you did; God chose you precisely because you’re awkward a.k.a uniquely awkward.
• God’s got options, but He chose YOU.
• Equip your spirit with the word of God.
• “My Father says I am”
• Live by what God says about you, about what you can do. His is the only opinion that matters.
• When God is speaking, one word is more than enough. Have enough faith in your Father to go with one word.

2. Get ready on the way !

• God doesn't call you to “feel ready” or trying to be as ready as possible, He calls you to have faith and follow Him.
• Trust that God will drive and get ready on the way. Just like husband and wife, sometimes the women will just never been ready until the car engine starts. As His bride, you just have to hop on to the car and get ready on the way. God will drive and you get ready on the way!
• Blessings is God’s department, obedience is yours.
• If you can hear God’s voice, you can stand in the face of your fear 

3. Stay behind the guide!

• Psalm 23 - To have the Lord as my shepherd, I’ve to acknowledge that I’m a sheep
• Psalm 48:14 - For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. He does not want to give you guidance, He wants to be your Guide forever!
• "I'm never going to audition for Your love again. I'm never going to audition for Your calling again. I receive Your love. I receive Your calling." 

  

“I’ve never been ready. I wasn’t ready when we started the church. I didn’t feel ready when the church started to grow, thousands of people were coming to Christ, but the church got bigger than the town I grew up in. I wasn’t ready for that.” 

 

Steven Furtick

God Pushes You to Deeper Faith

In order to build your faith, God will give you a dream; then he'll urge you to make a decision; but then he'll allow a delay, because in the delay he matures you and prepares you for what is to come.

The truth is you'll have difficulties as you're pursuing your God-given dream.
This isn't because he doesn't care about you. It's one of the ways he pushes you toward the deep end of faith.

As God delays, you'll face two types of difficulties: Circumstances and Critics.
This is a natural part of life.
God designed it this way because he knows we grow stronger when facing adversity.

When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land, he had one problem after another.
First, there was no water.
Then there was no food.
Then there were a bunch of complainers. Then there were poisonous snakes.
Moses was doing what God wanted, yet he had problems.
God does this because he is building our faith and character.

When we finally reach our limit and exhausted all options, it is then that God begins a mighty work through us: "I know, even though you are temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials and temptations.
This is no accident - it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable, than gold ." (1 Peter 1:6-7 PH)

1Petrus 1:6-7
6 Bergembiralah akan hal itu, sekalipun sekarang ini kamu seketika harus berdukacita oleh berbagai-bagai pencobaan. 7 Maksud semuanya itu ialah untuk membuktikan kemurnian imanmu -- yang jauh lebih tinggi nilainya dari pada emas yang fana, yang diuji kemurniannya dengan api -- sehingga kamu memperoleh puji-pujian dan kemuliaan dan kehormatan pada hari Yesus Kristus menyatakan diri-Nya.

With all strength we will exhausted, just in Him we can face everything.

Rick Warren

Living with Contentment and Satisfaction

The Bible says that godliness accompanied with contentment is great and abundant gain. What I take from that is, a godly person who is content is in the very best place he can possibly be.

Joy doesn't come from having your circumstances in order and under control; it comes from what's in your heart.  For example, the world is full of people who have what they think they want, and they're still not happy. In fact, some of the most unhappy people in the world are people who seem to "have it all."

Contentment is not about fame or being well-known, how much money you have, your position at work or your social circle. It's not found in your level of education or what side of the tracks you were born on. Contentment is a heart attitude.

There's nobody happier than a truly thankful person, a truly content person. The word content means 'being satisfied to the point where nothing disturbs you no matter what's going on, but not satisfied to the point that you never want any change.'

We all want to see things get better. But where you are right this minute doesn't have to disturb you. You can choose to believe that God is working and things are changing, and you will see the result of it in due time.

Life is all about the choices we make, so choose contentment and satisfaction every single day of your life. You won't go wrong when you do.

Prayer Starter: God, I want to be content and satisfied with where I am, right here, right now. Give me the strength to choose to be content every single day.

Joyce Meyer

Experiencing God's Peace By Living in the Now

Having an attitude of peace and calm is priceless. It's an attitude that says, 'I'm trusting God,' and it speaks powerfully to people. But it takes time, focus, and the grace of God to be consistently peaceful.

Too often our stress level is tied up in our circumstances. You could be stressed because you're always busy or you're struggling financially or because you're not getting along with someone you love.

 To conquer the stress in our lives, we need to learn to practice the peace that's been provided for us by the overcoming power of Jesus.

One way to develop consistent peace is to learn to live 'in the now.' We can spend a lot of time thinking about the past or wondering what the future holds, but we can't accomplish anything unless our mind is focused on today.

The Bible tells us that God gives us grace for each day that we live. I believe God's grace is the power that enables and energizes us to do what we need to do - and He gives it generously, as we need it.

Every day we need to say, 'God has given me today. I will rejoice and be glad in it.'

If you can learn to trust God 'in the now,' receiving His grace as you need it, you can become a truly peaceful person - and that's powerful.

Prayer Starter: God, I know that You have overcome any and every obstacle, so I ask You to help me live in the peace that You've provided for me. Show me how to trust You as I live 'in the now.'

John 16:33

Joyce Meyer

God Isn’t Trying to Pay You Back

Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” For what son is not disciplined by his father?….No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:5-8,11

Many people have a warped view of God’s reaction to our sin.
They think that if God is disciplining them, He’s out to get them. They’ve walked away from God, so now He’s paying them back. Getting even. Settling the score.

This misses the whole point of God’s discipline.
God doesn’t discipline us to pay us back but to bring us back.

To our senses.
To the life we were saved for.
To Him.

One of the most unloving things God could do would be to allow you to live in sin and operate under the illusion that you’re still close to Him. Conversely, one of the most loving things God can do is to bust you in your sin. To make you realize just how far away you are from him. To get you to see just how far you’ve drifted, and how desperately you need to come back.

And so sometimes God will discipline us. He will accept your momentary pain for your eternal pleasure. He doesn’t have a vendetta. He’s not trying to settle scores. He’s not trying to pay us back.

God’s wrath is satisfied.
The score was settled on the cross.
What payment does He have to gain from us that Jesus hasn’t already given to Him?

If you’re a Christian, there is absolutely no wrath left for you. The only thing remaining is God’s loving discipline. If you’re experiencing that right now, God doesn’t hate you. He is just trying to bring you back to Him.

God’s children don’t need to be worried about His discipline.

In fact, they should only ever be worried if they never experience it.

If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Hebrews 12:8

Steven Furtick

Look from the Place Where You Are

It seems that life always has its ways of bringing us to a place where we need to make a fresh start.

In the Bible, Abram found himself in that very place when his nephew Lot chose the best land in the area, leaving Abram with the less desirable land. But God didn't abandon Abram. Instead He showed up and gave Abram a bold new vision.

I like what the Lord told Abram after he and Lot parted ways. He told him, 'Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are.'

It's that phrase, "look from the place where you are," that stirs me. That's the point of a fresh start, a new beginning. God Himself will bring us to that point occasionally.

You might be there right now. Maybe you want to break a bad habit or revive a lost dream. Maybe you want to get a handle on your finances, start your own business, write a book, whatever it is, God could be telling you to get started right now. This could be your new beginning!

After God told Abram to look from that place, the next thing He told him was, 'Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you' (Genesis 13:17 NKJV).

God could be telling you right now to get up and get on with your dream or vision, your assignment, your life, because He is giving it to you. Your part is to walk it out.

Do what you need to do. It may not be easy. It might take some time. But trust God and go for whatever it is. Look from the place where you are right now - and go!

Prayer Starter: God, regardless of what's happened in the past, help me to look up from where I am now. I thank You for Your new beginning for me. I will boldly step into it and walk out Your calling for me.







Joyce Meyer

Second Best?

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. —Romans 5:8

Leah must have laid awake all night thinking of the moment when her new husband would awaken. She knew that it was not her face he expected to see, but Rachel’s. Jacob had been a victim of deception, and when he realized that a “bait and switch” had occurred, he quickly made a new deal with Laban to claim the woman he had been promised (Gen. 29:25-27).

Have you ever felt insignificant or second-best? Leah felt that way. It’s seen in the names she chose for her first three sons (vv.31-35). Reuben means “See, a Son”; Simeon means “Heard”; and Levi means “Attached.” Their names were all plays on words that indicated the lack of love she felt from Jacob. With each son’s birth, she desperately hoped she would move up in Jacob’s affections and earn his love. But slowly Leah’s attitude changed, and she named her fourth son Judah, which means “Praise” (v.35). Though she felt unloved by her husband, perhaps she now realized she was greatly loved by God.

We can never “earn” God’s love, because it’s not dependent on what we do. In truth, the Bible tells us that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). In God’s eyes, we are worth the best that heaven could offer—the gift of His precious Son.

Nothing speaks more clearly of God’s love than the cross.

Cindy Hess Kasper
ODB February 14th 2013

Meat, Milk, and Malnourishment

One of the greatest critiques of the American Church today is that it’s malnourished. Some would even say it’s our most pressing problem.

When most people voice this complaint, the focus is on the worship experience. From people who leave these churches, you hear, “I wasn’t getting fed.” Or, “I just want some deeper teaching.” From people outside these churches you hear, “too much milk, not enough meat.”

In some cases, I’m sure this is true. But I really don’t think that’s the real problem. Yes, American Christians are malnourished. But I don’t believe it has anything to do with milk or meat.

Most American Christians aren’t malnourished because of what they’re getting fed on Sunday. They’re malnourished because they don’t feed themselves Monday through Saturday.

So you had filet mignon on Sunday and learned about the mystical union of Christ and the church as it relates to the rapture and the design of the tabernacle in relation to Levitical dietary laws as understood by the Council of Trent. Good for you. Have fun starving yourself the rest of the week and letting your pastor read the Bible so you don’t have to.

So you had some milk on Sunday and learned 37 ways to ________. Have fun having 37 new ways to not obey God during the coming week.

The crisis facing the church today isn’t what people are getting fed on Sundays. It’s what they’re not feeding themselves the rest of the days. Who really cares whether you consume meat or milk on Sunday if it’s the only meal you have all week?

I’m not saying this to get pastors and churches off the hook. It is the shepherd’s job to feed the sheep (John 21). And feed them well based on their needs and faith development. But it’s also the sheep’s job to eat:
13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:13-14

Here’s the point. Churches: we have a responsibility. We should serve up the Word, hot and fresh every single Sunday. As church leaders, it is our job to create and sustain processes and systems that responsibly enable people to grow in their faith after receiving Christ.

People in our churches: you also have a responsibility. If you refuse to study the Word, apply it, pray some during the week, join a small group and dig deeper with others, there’s not much we can do to help you. Your malnourishment won’t be cured by anything we give you on Sunday.

So are you an infant and need milk? Drink it for now, but the only way you’re getting more mature and will be ready for meat is by training yourself. Constantly. Do you want meat? From these verses, it seems like meat is doing the milk. On your own. Constantly.

Not getting it served to you once a week.

Steven Furtick

Banda Aceh di HatiMU

Udah lama ga nulis blog, banyak hal yang sebenarnya pengen gw share, but so many schedule jadi ga kesampean, work hard play hard sih. XD

Jadi seminggu ini gw punya schedule prayer dan fasting. Hari pertama kemarin menandai prayer dan fasting buat tahun 2013 ini. Motivasinya apa? Bukan untuk meminta sama Bapa ini itu sih, bukan juga minta promosi dan multiplikasi ini itu. Dan bukan karena gw rohani banget sampe ga minta apapun buat karir dan rencana masa depan gw. Tapi abis dengar rhema dari Ko Philip tentang Maturity dan Multiplication, hati gw benar2 berubah dan tertemplak habis. Gw jadi benar-benar bisa berlari ke tahta kasih karunia Tuhan. Ko Philip bilang anak Tuhan ga usah minta ini itu, rumah di komplek mana, pasangan yang gimana, kebebasan finansial di usia berapa, TUHAN terlebih rindu menyatakan dan melipatgandakannya. Usaha manusia tidak ada hubungannya dengan berkat dari Tuhan.

So apa dunk motivasi prayer dan fasting gw? #backtofocus
Tahun lalu waktu gw retreat ProM Revolution di The Hill, gw minta satu hal di tahun 2013, yaitu TO BE A MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART!
Ya, memperoleh God's FAVOR itu bikin aku kejar intimacy sama Bapa.
Sebenarnya aku punya banyak hal yang pengen ada terobosan, tapi aku lebih tau kalo hal terutama bukanlah terobosan. Terobosan cuma bonus doank. Kejar intimacy!

Kemarin aku prayer & fasting untuk TO BE RIGHTEOUS & HOLY. Aku mau perkenanan Tuhan lahir didalam kebenaran dan kekudusan. Waktu nyanyiin lagu The God I Know (CHC) benar-benar tersentuh waktu lirik "The God I know RIGHTEOUS & HOLY... The church He knows RIGHTEOUS & HOLY"

Hari ini aku nangis selama berangkat ke office, karena thema prayer dan fasting hari ini adalah PRAYER CHANGES US dalam visi SUMATRA FOR JESUS. So kita di gereja punya visi 1000 gereja lokal dengan 1000000 murid, dan di regional kita spesifiknya ya SUMATRA FOR JESUS.

Jadi aku mau doain ibukota provinsi di Sumatra yang belum ada perintisan gereja sel kita. Dimulai dari Banda Aceh, kota paling ujung barat! Dan Tuhan benar-benar melawat aku, menangis teruss sepanjang praise dan worship selama perjalanan. Dapatin janji2 Tuhan, dan profetik Tuhan.

Banda Aceh pernah mengalami tsunami dahsyat yang mendatangkan bencana. Tapi tahun 2014, akan mengalami tsunami lagi!
What?? Ga salah tuh Tuhan?? Masa tsunami lagi?
Roh Kudus bilang kali ini akan terjadi TSUNAMI of MERCY yang mendatangkan REVIVAL in 2014!!!
Kontan aku amenkan profetik itu. Lalu sempat sekilas aku teringat dulu aku ini hidupnya hancur tapi dipulihkan dan diangkat segitu rupa. Lalu apa hubungannya?
Tuhan bilang AKU mau pakai orang yang mau untuk visi KU, kamu mau ga??
aku sontak terkejut, ya mau dunk TUHAN. Lalu gimana dengan SUMATRA FOR JESUS?
Aku yakin dan percaya benih SUMATRA FOR JESUS bukan hanya panggilan fulltimer di gereja, tapi juga marketplace yang membuka jalan perintisan. Aku mau TUHAN! pakai karirku! pakai aku!

Dan benar-benar blessing banget waktu mikir Banda Aceh. secara itu kota full dengan syariat agama. But aku ga merasa itu hal yang sulit. Aku merasa Tuhan terlampau besar untuk hal sepele itu.

Sampe disini dulu deh ya, mau lanjutin kerja plus doain kota yang lain ^^
SUMATRA FOR JESUS!!!

Just Enough

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. —Matthew 6:33

I love writing for Our Daily Bread. I confess, however, that sometimes I whine to my friends about how difficult it is to communicate everything I would like to say in a short devotional. If only I could use more than 220 words.

This year when I came to the book of Matthew in my Bible-reading schedule, I noticed something for the first time. As I was reading about the temptation of Christ (Matt. 4:1-11), I noticed how short it was. Matthew used fewer than 250 words to write his account of one of the most pivotal events in all of Scripture. Then I thought of other short yet powerful passages: the 23rd Psalm (117 words) and the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 (66 words).

Clearly, I don’t need more words, I just need to use them well. This also applies to other areas of life—time, money, space. Scripture affirms that God meets the needs of those who seek His kingdom and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33). The psalmist David encourages us, “Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing” (Ps. 34:10).

If today you’re thinking, “I need just a little bit more” of something, consider instead the possibility that God has given you “just enough.”

— Julie Ackerman Link

God Wants You to Enjoy Your Life

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17 NIV)

You may be under a lot of stress right now because of the economy, but God still wants you to enjoy life.

As a Christian, you can enjoy life because your conscience is clear. You can enjoy life because you are secure within God’s love. You can have fun and laugh in church. You can enjoy friends who don’t manipulate you because they are learning to be like Jesus, and that means they are learning to look out for the interests of others.

Unfortunately, there are many people who do not want to let God into their lives because they fear he will make them give up anything that is fun. They think that to become a Christian is the same as saying the party’s over, that to be spiritual is to be miserable.

People are frantically looking for fun fixes, but that means they operate under the law of diminishing returns. They spend more time, more money, and more energy to get less and less of a thrill. They go around asking, “Are we having fun yet?”

The truth is, God “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17b NIV).

God wants you to enjoy life!

Rick Warren

You're Alive Because God Wants to Love You

"Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure." (Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT)

A while back, a man came into my office and said, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t feel like I’m going anywhere in my spiritual growth. I’m kind of stuck in neutral.”

I said, “What do you think the problem is?”

He said, “I think my problem is I just don't love God enough.”

I said, “That's not your problem. Your problem is not that you don't love God enough. Your problem is that you don't understand how much he loves you.”

Love is always a response to love. The Bible says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 NIV). When you say, “I don't love God,” it's because you don't understand just how much he really loves you.

To understand your life’s purpose and calling, you have to begin with God’s nature. God is love. Love is the essence of his nature. The only reason there is love in the universe is because of God. Ants and snails do not love, but you were made in God’s image, so you can love.

The reason you are alive is because God wanted to love you. The first purpose of your life is to be loved by God! Yes, it is important to serve him, obey, and trust him, but your first purpose is to love him.

Let this sink in: Your first duty is not to do anything but just be loved by God. “Dear friends in Rome. God loves you dearly, and he has called you to be his very own people” (Romans 1:7).

Rick Warren

No I’m Not

When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior…Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand.”
“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
Judges 6:12, 14-15

When God shows you who you are, your first reaction will be no I’m not.

I’m not a mighty warrior.
I’m not called to do that.
I’m not good enough.
I’m not capable.
I’m not worthy.
I’m not beautiful.
I’m not lovable.
I’m not…

But how God sees you isn’t based on your pedigree or performance.
It’s based on the potential He’s placed inside of you.

God does not measure you based on your lowest moments.
He measures you based on your high calling.

God does not define your life based on what you have done or who you are.
He defines your life based on what Jesus has done for you and who Jesus is in you.

And that’s the only thing that matters.

Long before God ever showed you who you are or what you’re here to do, He knew who you were and what you had done and would do. In other words, God isn’t shocked by our protests or feelings of inadequacy.

Abraham didn’t shock God when he told Him he was old.
Moses didn’t shock God when he told Him he was a stutterer.
Gideon didn’t shock God when he told Him he was the most insignificant person in the most insignificant clan.

And they didn’t change God’s mind either.

When God has spoken, you don’t get to seek a second opinion. Including your own. Especially your own.

You’re not the world’s leading expert on yourself. The One who custom-designed you from before your conception is. You’re not the world’s leading expert on your worth before God. The One who has made you worthy in and through His Son is.

When God shows you who you are, your first reaction will be no I’m not.
Luckily your first reaction isn’t the final word.

Steven Furtick

This post was originally published on December 21, 2010.

No drama, King Obama

In Javanese culture, a ruler must stand chivalrously above strife:

cool, intelligent and self-contained. Sound familiar?

By   Edward L Fox   |  2,800 words   |  Read later or Kindle

Illustration by Richard Wilkinson

Edward L Fox is a writer and associate lecturer in creative writing at the Open University.

His latest book is River Spirits: An Amazonian Fantasy (2012).

Like a lot of people in the autumn of 2012, I watched the TV debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It was the last big performance in that interminable presi-dential election campaign in the United States. Every now and then, as Obama did verbal battle with his ad-versary, I noticed something I didn’t expect to see. It was a gesture he made with his hand: for emphasis, he would point at Romney with his thumb. I wasn’t the only one to have seen this. In a short piece on the BBC website, a reporter wrote:
Featured in the three presidential debates were Romney, Obama, and Obama’s thumb. At the debates, the presi-dent frequently jabbed his hand, with his thumb resting atop a loosely curled fist, to emphasise a point. The ges-ture — which might appear unnatural in normal commu-nication — was probably coached into Obama to make him appear more forceful…. And pointing the index finger is simply seen as rude and too aggressive.

But I’d seen this gesture before, and Obama hadn’t learned it from a debating coach. Whether consciously or not, he was revealing his boyhood in the Indonesian island of Java, where it is considered impolite to point with your index finger. Seeing Obama point with his thumb in the debates confirmed something I had sus-pected for some time. Whatever else he might be, Obama is America’s first Javanese president.

Some time ago, I devoted a significant period of time and study to the traditions of Javanese kingship. I was writing a book called Obscure Kingdoms (1993) about traditions of kingship in non-Western societies, and I spent a period of time in Indonesia. One of the book’s chapters was about kingship in Java and, in the course of my research, I had become well-acquainted with a certain Javanese mannerism. I was struck to see that mannerism once again, uncannily echoed by Obama during the televised US presidential debates.

Unlike most political analysts, I see the imprint of Java in Obama far more than the imprint of Hawaii (where he was born and later went to high school); more than the imprint of Chicago (where he began his political career), and certainly more than Kenya (a highly popular notion that is particularly far-fetched). Indeed, it was in Java that Obama spent his childhood, had his primary educa-tion, and where his mother made her career. It was the country where his step-father and his half-sister were born, and which he visited several times in his early adulthood. Obama still speaks some Indonesian.

Considerable time and energy has been spent speculat-ing and theorising about Obama’s Kenyan background. There is a ridiculous book called The Roots of Obama’s Rage (2011) by Dinesh D’Souza. It’s a piece of popular controversialism which suggests that the key to under-standing Obama — as a man and as a president — lies in his Kenyan background. Obama’s father, whom he barely knew, was a government economist in the early days of Kenyan independence. D’Souza argues that Obama inherited his father’s Kenyan anti-colonial mind-set, and that this is what motivates Obama politically and informs how he sees the world.

Traditionally, the Javanese ruler triumphs over his adversary without even appearing to exert himself

Naturally, the idea caught on in the loony blogosphere, and as a result there are now millions of people in Ame-rica who hold the view that Obama’s political approach is somehow ‘Kenyan’, and that by the end of Obama’s term of office the US will be governed according to a pernicious form of Kenyan socialism. Absurd, certainly, but then again there are also Americans who believe in black helicopters and alien abduction.

It’s true that Obama has written comparatively little about his time in Java in either of his books. His first autobiographical book, Dreams from My Father (1995), is principally about his search for Barack Obama Snr’s Kenyan roots. In fact, he only went to Kenya to research this book. The search for his African roots was impor-tant to him in his journey of self-discovery and self-invention, a process that was completed in his adoption of African-American cultural and social identity, and his choice of the black neighbourhoods of Chicago as the place where he began his political career. Part of the process of forging his own identity and his own path in life involved distinguishing himself from the world view of his mother, Ann Dunham, which was based on her international development work in Java. Most telling of all perhaps, when it comes to Obama’s own downplay-ing of his time in Java, was a comment in his second book,The Audacity of Hope (2006), in which he wrote: ‘Most Americans can’t locate Indonesia on a map.’

While Dreams from My Father was about the father who returned to Kenya when Barack was a baby, undoubted-ly the strongest influence on Obama throughout his childhood was his mother. A truly extraordinary person, Dunham was an anthropologist, who devoted her life to the study of small-scale industry in rural Java, while also working as a development economist and raising two children. When Barack was six, he and his mother moved from Hawaii, where he was born, to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, where he spent the formative years of his childhood. It was in Java where Obama learnt and adopted the cool, calm, unflappable personal and presidential style that has earned him the nickname ‘No Drama Obama’. It’s a genuinely Javan ideal.

Anyone who has visited the island of Java will know what great value the Javanese people place on maintaining a serene demeanour, harmonious social relations, and not appearing visibly angry. Acutely aware of local norms of behavior, Dunham made a point of ensuring that her son adopted Javanese manners. In his memoir, Obama recalls how his mother ‘always encouraged my rapid acculturation in Indonesia. It made me relatively self-sufficient, undemanding on a tight budget, and extremely well-mannered when compared with other American children. She taught me to disdain the blend of ignorance and arrogance that too often characterised Americans abroad.’

But this formative period entailed more than a process of pragmatic acculturation. In Janny Scott’s biography of Obama’s mother, A Singular Woman, one of her inter-viewees maintains: ‘This is where Barack learned to be cool…if you get mad and react, you lose. If you learn to laugh and take it without any reaction, you win.’ What the young Barack had to take was being taunted by Indonesian children — his classmates and the children he played with in his Jakarta neighbourhood — for his dark skin colour. At first he was often thought of as an Indonesian from one of the outer (racially Melanesian) islands of the Indonesian archipelago. Yet of this period in Jakarta, Obama’s biographer David Maraniss wrote that the young Barack ‘had become so fluent in the man-ners and language of his new home that his friends mis-took him for one of them’.

The Javanese have a word for this kind of bearing. They call it halus. The nearest literal equivalent in English might be ‘chivalrous’, which means not just finely man-nered, but implies a complete code of noble behavior and conduct. The American anthropologist Clifford Geertz, who wrote some of the most important studies of Javanese culture in English, defined halus in The Reli-gion of Java (1976) as:  Formality of bearing, re-straint of expression, and bodily self-discipline… spon-taneity or naturalness of gesture or speech is fitting only for those ‘not yet Javanese’ — ie, the mad, the simplemind-ed, and children.

Even now, four decades after leaving Java, Obama exemplifies halus behaviour par excellence.

Halus is also the key characteristic of Javanese kingship, a tradition still followed by rulers of the modern state of Indonesia. During my period of study in Indonesia, I discovered that halus is the fundamental outward sign or proof of a ruler’s legitimacy. The tradition is described in ancient Javanese literature and in studies by modern anthropologists. The spirit of the halus ruler must burn with a constant flame, that is without (any outward) turbulence. In his classic essay, ‘The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture’ (1990), the Indonesian scholar Benedict Anderson describes the ruler’s halus as:  The
quality of not being disturbed, spotted, uneven, or dis-coloured. Smoothness of spirit means self-control, smoothness of appearance means beauty and elegance, smoothness of behaviour means politeness and sensi-tivity. Conversely, the antithetical quality of being  kasar means lack of control, irregularity, imbalance, disharmony, ugliness, coarseness, and impurity.

One can see the clear distinction between Obama’s os-tensibly aloof style of political negotiation in contrast to the aggressive, back-slapping, physically overbearing political style of a president such as Lyndon Johnson.

Traditionally, the Javanese ruler triumphs over his ad-versary without even appearing to exert himself. His ad-versary must have been defeated already, as a consequ-ence of the ruler’s total command over natural and hu-man forces. This is a common theme in traditional Java-nese drama, where the halus hero effortlessly triumphs over hiskasar (literally, unrefined or uncivilised) enemy. ‘In the traditional battle scenes,’ Anderson notes:
The contrast between the two becomes strikingly appa-rent in the slow, smooth, impassive and elegant move-ments of thesatria [hero], who scarcely stirs from his place, and the acrobatic leaps, somersaults, shrieks, taunts, lunges, and rapid sallies of his demonic oppo-nent. The clash is especially well-symbolised at the moment when the satria [hero] stands perfectly still, eyes downcast, apparently defenceless, while his demo-nic adversary repeatedly strikes at him with dagger, club, or sword — but to no avail. The concentrated power of thesatria [hero] makes him invulnerable.
Even to seem to exert himself is vulgar, yet he wins. This style of confrontation echoes that first famous live TV debate in the election of 2012 between Obama and Romney, in which Obama seemed passive, with eyes downcast, apparently defenceless (some alleged ‘bro-ken’) in the face of his enemy, only to triumph in later debates and in the election itself.

Like a Javanese king, Obama has never taken on a political fight that he has not, arguably, already won

But such a disposition is not just external posturing.  Halus in a Javanese ruler is the outward sign of a visible inner harmony which gathers and concentrates power in him personally. In the West, we might call this charisma. Crucially, in the Javanese idea of kingship, the ruler does not conquer opposing political forces, but absorbs them all under himself. In the words of Anderson again, the Javanese ruler has ‘the ability to contain opposites and to absorb his adversaries’. The goal is a unity of power that spreads throughout the kingdom. To allow a multiplicity of contending forces in the kingdom is a sign of weakness. Power is achieved through spiritual discipline — yoga-like and ascetic practices. The ruler seeks nothing for himself; if he acquires wealth, it is a by-product of power. To actively seek wealth is a spiri-tual weakness, as is selfishness or any other personal motive other than the good of the kingdom.

That’s the theory, though highly simplified. The modern Republic of Indonesia is in many ways the direct succes-sor and continuation of the ancient Javanese kingdom. Java remains the political centre of an empire of islands. The first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, was inaugu-rated in 1945 in Yogyakarta, the Javanese city that re-mains the capital of the Javanese kingdom, in the very spot in the royal palace where the Sultans of Yogyakarta were crowned. Yogyakarta was briefly the capital of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Sultan of Yogyakarta was its first vice president. Sukarno began his term as president with a policy that combined communism, Islam and nationalism, a weird combination in Western terms, but one that makes sense in Javanese terms: in claiming ownership of these political forces, Sukarno was seeking to subjugate them and harmonise them under his own king-like authority.

I can’t help but feel the parallels with Obama are strik-ing. He dismayed many liberals in the first term of his presidency, by persisting in a political approach that sought to absorb the Republican Party — his political opponents — into his policy-making, just as Sukarno sought, at first, to absorb all political forces in Indonesia, and as the Javanese king absorbed all natural and human forces. Four years later, of course, with political dramas such as the fiscal cliff behind him, one can see an Obama that has adjusted to American political condi-tions; he is now playing American, not Javanese politics. But then again, like a Javanese king, Obama has never taken on a political fight that he has not, arguably, al-ready won.

There is, however, another reason why I persist in looking at Obama in the context of traditional Javanese kingship. After Barack left Indonesia to attend high school in Hawaii, his mother Ann Dunham moved from Jakarta to the very cradle of Javanese civilisation, the compound of the palace (Kraton) of the Sultan of Yogyakarta, in central Java. The Kraton is the past and present home of Javanese kings; in recognition of the role of Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII in the struggle for independence from Dutch colonial rule, the area around Yogyakarta was given special political status inside Indonesia, and the sultans retain political status within the Indonesian republic. Not only does the sultanate of Yogyakarta represent the theoretical and cultural model of government and political power in the modern state of Indonesia, the Kraton is the home of traditional Javanese culture. The Kraton’s walled compound — essentially, a densely populated urban village — is traditionally the residence of members of the royal family and of palace servants and officials. Foreigners are forbidden from living here, but Dunham secured the unusual privilege of being allowed to live there because her mother-in-law, Eyang Putri, the mother of her second husband, Lolo Soetoro, was believed to be a distant relative of the royal family and lived in the compound. Although the old lady was in very good health, Obama’s mother was allowed to move into her house in the palace compound for the nominal purpose of looking after her.

Let your opponent yell and scream, and listen politely

Now it might or might not be true that Dunham’s mo-ther-in-law — Obama’s step-grandmother — was a blood relative of the Sultan. Maraniss, Obama’s biogra-pher, found no evidence either way. But Obama’s step-father believed it, as did Obama’s mother, and so did their daughter, Obama’s half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng. This belief or family myth is by itself significant. It places the family firmly within the system of Javanese kingship. Growing up, in Java or back in Hawaii, Obama would have known about this connection and its mean-ing.

After leaving Java for his education, Obama visited his mother regularly over the years. The palace compound (bekel, in Javanese) is a beautiful place. While I was re-searching my book on non-Western traditions of king-ship, I would walk around it in the evenings, glimpsing the interiors of the houses, with their green and pink glowing aquariums, and blue and grey glowing televi-sions. Stars could be seen through the palm-tree branches, the air was filled with birdsong. I looked back at my own book and found the following reflection of the place: ‘Tourists are forbidden from staying here, but a few academic researchers had managed it, and I envied them.’ I didn’t know then about Dunham.

As Obama entered adulthood, he sought to create a new identity for himself that was based on an American and, within that, a black American identity. He distanced himself from what he saw as his mother’s ‘internation-alist idealism’. But the influence of Javanese ways remained, unconsciously perhaps, a crucial part of him. When he was a community organiser in Chicago, working with black churches and local institutions, people noticed his unusual tendency to prefer harmony to confrontation, to bringing all forces together under his quiet leadership. Maraniss quotes an informant who was present at a meeting of church leaders when one of the leaders attacked Obama as a ‘do-gooding outsider’:
To Barack’s credit, he didn’t get up from the back of the room and come to defend himself. He left it there and let the guy say what he needed to say…. Barack absorbed it. But then, as soon as it was over, he waited until the guy left, and said, ‘Now, what just happened? Let’s make sure we understand what just went on so we can go from here.’ Civility, being respectful, was always very important to him.

He would use this same technique again and again in later political conflicts: let your opponent yell and scream, listen politely, and then, when your adversary has exhausted himself, somehow end up winning. Indeed, that is halus through and through.

Oh Yes You Can!

We all face temptation,  it's an unavoidable part of life. The question is not, "Will you be tempted?" The question is, "When you're tempted, will you be ready?"

I really want you to get this: You can beat temptation. Stop saying, 'I just don't think I can.' Take 'I can't!' out of your vocabulary.

In your own strength and by your own ability, you're right. You can't. But when you put God's Word in your heart, when you lean on His strength and trust in His promises, there's no temptation you can't overcome.

Over the years, I've noticed five things that make all the difference in overcoming temptation. First, you've got to be wise. Think about the choices you're making and the consequences before you make them. Wisdom looks ahead.

Next, you have to believe that you can resist temptation. Condemnation, guilt and shame work off of momentum,  if you stop them early, they lose their power, but once they get rolling, they're hard to stop. Third, think of facing temptation as normal life. If you're expecting a fight, you'll always be ready.

Fourth, avoid areas of weakness. Don't put yourself in situations where you can easily fall. If you struggle with managing your money, don't go to the mall when you can't afford to buy anything!

And finally, don't give yourself too much credit. We don't graduate from being tempted. It's so easy to think you've matured beyond stumbling, and once that happens, you make yourself an easy target.

God wants you to trust Him to bring victory in every area of your life. By His grace, you can!

God I realize temptation is a part of life. Help me not to be caught off guard or surprised when it comes. Thank You for the wisdom and grace to overcome any and all temptations and to live in Your victory.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Cor 10:13, ESV)