Aug 28

1 John 1:8-10
8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

Emily broke toward the goal. If she could get past one more defender, she would have a shot at winning the game for the Golds, her team. Time was running out. Emily sprinted toward the goal, and Ashley kicked the ball just above the heads of the defenders. Emily would catch up to it just fifteen yards from the goal. The Blues' goalie then would have to make a decision whether to stay home in the net or come out after the ball. Emily sprinted around her defender to receive Ashley's pass. The ball hit the turf a split second before Emily's foot hit the ball. She put a little spin on it, hoping to curve it around the goalie's outstretched arms and into the upper right corner of the goal. As the ball left her foot, Emily was excited. A clear shot at the goal, under a minute to play, with the game on the line. Emily watched the ball sail past the goalie's hands. Emily pumped her arms victoriously in the air, then froze. The ball continued, sailing up and over the top bar of the goal. Emily had missed! "Oh no!" she yelled, and then uttered a foul word. On the way home from the game, Emily apologized to her mother for her language. "I'm sorry. It just slipped out," she said, tears rimming her eyes. "I was so upset. But I shouldn't have said that, and I'm sorry. You must hate me. God must hate me." "No, God still loves you," Emily's mother said, "and so do I." They drove in silence for a few moments until Emily's mom said, "Did your coach yell at you for missing that goal?" Emily shook her head and shrugged. "No. I told him I was sorry I missed it, but he said-" Emily stopped suddenly. She smiled at her mom. "I see what you're trying to do." Emily's mom smiled back at her daughter. "You did something wrong," she said, "but God doesn't hate you for that, any more than your coach hates you for missing that goal. God loves you, Emily, and he's willing to forgive you. All you have to do is admit your mistake to him, ask for his forgiveness, and trust him to help you make the right decision the next time." "Thanks, Mom," Emily said. "I guess I need to practice a little more." "We all do," Mom said.

REFLECT: You can make an action a habit if you repeat it every day for twenty-one days. Try to make the following procedure a habit: When you make a wrong choice, instantly admit your sin, ask for forgiveness, and begin to trust God to help you make the right decision the next time. (But don't stop after twenty-one days!)

PRAY: "God, I made a wrong choice when I... Forgive me, and help me make the right decision next time."

i went to Stephen Lewis today to get my schedule, gym clothes, and student ID picture taken...just a reminder that school is juuust around the corner!
i remember when i was really young, one of the pastors (either daniel joo or sam williams) preached on how God always forgives you right when you ask for forgiveness and repent to Him, so we should always confess our sins to God to make our hearts pure. there really is no point in trying to hide what you have done wrong. we need to be able to be honest to God to become more and more like Him. God WANTS us to confess it and if we don't we are pretty much ignoring His words and turning our backs on Him. God always knows the smallest wrong doing that you may have committed so why bother hiding it from Him?

After reading this short story, i realized how i have changed some of my bad habits. I remember awhile ago, i used to swear alot and the words just came out without me knowing it. Even now it still happens but it happens less often and when i say a foul word, i realize it and i feel bad about it. I think that i should feel this way whenever i do anything against God's will and always be able to realize that i have done something wrong.
Also, sometimes we beleive that God can forgive our sins automatically but because we are either lazy or whatever else we expect God to forgive us without us praying and asking God to forgive us.

I think a Greek philosopher said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."
This reminds me of Dan Kim's sermon, especially on the part about "doing."
We have to consistently humble ourselves for God, as he constantly tests us.
We have to set ourselves so that we're guided in his "light" and walking down the correct path of faith.
otherwise, we'd lead to nowhere.

The story kind of reminded me of my relationship with my own Mother.
Whenever we argue, it is always the same procedure. Yelling for about 10 minutes, then giving each other the cold shoulder for about another 20 minutes, and then some more screaming until I either beg for forgiveness or we actually resolve the problem.
During the 20 minutes while we ignore each other, I usually go to room and think vulgar thoughts. It feels as if my Mom hates me and that she'll never ever speak to me again. Saying sorry is always the hardest thing to do, because that means I realized what I did wrong. And trust me, admitting that I was the one at fault isn't the most fun thing to do. I know my Mother doesn't hate me. She is just upset with what I did, and deep down I know she will always love me no matter what I do. Maybe you guys have a similar situation like mine with your mom, dad, sibling, etc.
Luckily, with God, we don't have to scream at each other when I do something wrong. As soon as we apologize, God has forgotten about the whole thing. Also like our family/friends he most certainly does NOT hate us. He is always ready to accept you back into his Kingdom as soon as we admit our sin to God.
Good night!
-Sarah

did the same thing as Christine (Too bad we don't go to the same school tho...): I had my sutdent id photo taken at Thornhill Secondary today....got a whole booklet on where I can get discounts!

Anyways, I really liked the verse today.
I thought it clearly explained that we know we have sinned more than once in our life. Lying to ourselves would mean we're calling God a liar......very powerful.
It's hard to sometimes fix the habits and problems we make every day. God knows when we are truly sorry for something and when we are, he will forgive us. It's amazing because no matter how much we sin, God has unlimited forgiveness. i'm not saying that we should misuse this gift and start being less cautious...just it's good to know we have a loving God that cares for us, provides, and forgives us. Why else would Jesus die on the cross for us? Our world is full of sin and it's impossible to avoid here. But showing that we do know that sining is wrong and actually trying to keep a clean life is quite different. We can't just know that sinning is bad, we should take action.

I have an example:
There was a youtube video that showed a man getting a ticket for making an illegal left turn. The police told him that was not allowed and there was even a sign that proved his point. But then, after he gave the ticket to this man, he drove away from this car and while doing this......he made an illegal left turn!

If we know what we should do, why can't we do it ourselves. We're quick to catch other's mistakes but don't even realize ours. It's like that verse that says to take the speck out of your own eye before you tell someone else they have a speck in their own eye.

Well, that's about it! Good night.
~Audrey~

I know that the message was to always ask for forgiveness but you guys already understand that.
So I'm going to emphasize the idea of 'making something a habit'. Make devos a habit, make being nice a habit, make praying a habit.
Everyday we live our lives and do certain things that we can call habits, but is communicating with God a habit for you guys?
I'm going to be honest. It isn't really a habit for me. I'm not constantly thinking about praying or about talking to God.
If it only takes 21 days to make something a habit, work hard and make communicating with God, a habit!

Ohp, I just realized that my devo has nothing to do with the bible verses....
Yolo? LOL

ha, i have the worst bad habit ever
biting fingernails
ew

anywho, this devo reminded me of a franklin book i read when i was little. it was about bad habits. ha
what happened was franklin did smth bad over and over again, forget what, but then his mums all like stop it or you'll make bad habits. and then franklins all like whats a bad habit. and then his mum runs a wheelbarrow down a road it always goes down and the road already has indents where the wheelbarrow always goes down. and then franklins mums says that habits are like this road and that even if one trip of the wheelbarrow wont make much of a difference, it'll eventually wear down more and more. likewise, she explains, that his bad habit will start to wear down into a well defined groove if he doesnt stop, so obv franklin stops and stuff. I also remember one of Sam Chung's sermons on habitual sin and that we just can't be like that. Asking forgiveness every time we do the same bad thing over and over again isn't really being sorry. That would be equivalent to me punching you, saying sorry, then continuing punching you. Doesn't make very much sense. But in the end its about breaking those habits, and I believe that not one of us have enough willpower on our own to break habitual sins. It's only through God's help, coupled with our hardest efforts that we can break the habit. So even with this things, God will always be there to help when you have a mind and heart towards a goal.