Three years ago today, the Almighty God gave me a new name, Christenstein, which literally translates into Christian stone or Christ is my stone.  Here is the post that contains the information regarding why the Lord changed name, how He confirmed it was Him, and how long it took me to discern and come to terms with the fact that He did indeed change one of my middle names.  As I reflect on the first three years of my walk with Jesus and the first 25 years since I first heard the word of the Lord, the Lord provide a few new and fresh revelations regarding the name.

He called me by new name on the day I was saved

The night of February 9, 2007 was the first time I heard the song in Christ alone.  They played the song twice and the song moved me a lot.  It was this song that called out to my name, Christenstein - In Christ alone or Christ is my stone.  It was this song that helped me understand the story of Jesus from beginning to end.  And, it was in this song that my name, my real name, was called, supernaturally.

Christ is my stone through bar exam failure

After I failed the bar exam, people thought I would go to into depression and be devastated.  I studied really hard for the exam and put a lot o effort into it.  The fact that the exam did not drive me into a sad state or take away the joy that I have in Christ Jesus testifies to my name, Christenstein.  Christ is my stone.  I am known to frustrate prayer warriors because my prayer requests usually lasts for a few hours to a few days at most.  This is because I stand on a solid rock, a foundation called Christ and this foundation is sure.

My new name humbles me

Contrary to popular belief, my name does not make pompous.  It actually humbles me.  It humbles me because it tells me that God knows me all to well.  He names me something that fits me all too well.  Since He created me, His accuracy just reminds me that I belong to Him and that I should continue to serve and obey Him.  Every time someone calls me, "Christenstein," it reminds me that I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, not that I am some special person that God renamed.

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There are many stories of people being redeemed and renewed in different areas of their lives.  Why not God redeemed a person's name and make that person's name beautiful?

My full name is translates, "For God is gracious, sending/revealing Christ our stone/rock, who is the origin of our wisdom/knowledge."

It is indeed very appropriate for me to acknowledge that my intelligence comes from Him and not from myself.  He redeemed it. 

I am not a prayer warrior.  I know people who can pray hours on end.  I am not one those.  It is not one of my gifts and I am not jealous of people who can pray for hours because that is how God created them to be.  Some people call prayer warriors "holier than thou."  This makes me really sad.  God created me differently to do different things in His body.  God did not create us all prayer warriors.  If we all were prayer warriors, then where would the evangelists be?  Where would the preachers and teachers be?  Where would the missionaries be?  Yes, the prayer warriors have the their purposes to intercede for the saints.  They are serving God just as much as anyone of us are serving God.

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."  But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. (Romans 7:7-8 NIV)

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.(1 Corinthians 12:12-20 NIV)

Let us each play our part in the Body of Christ, so that the Body of Christ functions to the fullest.  I am not a prayer warrior.  I am grateful and thankful that there are prayer warriors.

On the Red-line on Saturday morning, I observed a very interesting man, whom I did not know.  He was very considerate.  He woke up another person to ask that person if he had missed his stop.  The person said that he did not and thank the person for waking him up.  As I was about to leave the train, the Holy Spirit prompted me to give the man a blessing.

I looked at him and said, "God bless you."

He replied, "God bless you, too."

Many people tell me, 'God bless you,' back.  It is the normal response for many people and I have heard many repeat the same thing to me when I tell them 'God bless you.'  This time, however, the Holy Spirit prompted to go further so, I replied, "You are a man of God.  God wants me to affirm that to you."

Immediately, he replied, "Everyday."  His prompt reply revealed me that he was indeed a man of God, walking with God and abiding in God everyday.  There was nothing that he was doing that gave away he was a Christian.  He was not reading a Bible.  He did not wear anything indicating that he was a Christian.  He just wore ordinary clothes and could have easily passed for another person on the train, not a person who walked with God everyday. 

I just walked to the car door waiting for the door to open at the Chinatown stop.  He kept on looking me, smiling really wide.  And, I looked back to him, smiled, and blinked my left eye.

When I got off the train, I just laughed with joy.  God is wonderful, using me like that to give my brothers and sisters undisputed affirmation that He is pleased with them.  And, I am grateful that God is so graceful as to use me to encourage this random person on the train, after all that I had done.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us....if it is encouraging, let him encourage.. (Romans 12:3-6, 12 NIV)

Last night, when I came back from House Group after crying tears of joy for having shared a transformation story based on Isaiah 61:1-3, which my Thursday House Group has been discussing, God did not give me anything to write as a devotional for today.  Usually, I write what I believe He is giving me to write and to share with my brothers and sisters.  And, this particular day, He was giving me nothing.  Yet, I knew that I was supposed to write something for today (this was definitely not one of the holidays) and I trusted that He will provide something.  I knew that He will provide.  And, He did.

I was reading through my subscriptions on xanga and came through Amy's blog (see this post).  Last night, she also shared her story based on Isaiah 61:1-3.  I did not tell her anything about the discussions in my Thursday House Group.  She lives in Florida and I live in Illinois.  I rarely have any communications with her besides blogging.  And, I have not exchanged any comments with her for a long time.  This is a testimony to God encouraging both of us, my Thursday House Group and her.  He is showing us that His Spirit is alive and active, working in our lives.  He used Amy's testimony, her timing in posting it and the verses that she used to show us that He is with us and He is loves us.  Praise the Lord for that and may we continue in love and unity as brothers and sisters in Christ, encouraging each other through the Holy Spirit.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)

He who answers before listening - that is his folly and his shame.  (Proverbs 18:13)

When I read the proverbs above, I wanted to convey a message that would avoid the pitfalls of secular humanism and the affirmation of the person instead of the affirmation of Christ inside the person.  Surely, there is a limit and boundary to listening before answering and the listening has to stop somewhere.  A person cannot listen to another person all day long to avoid being seen as foolish and shameful.  Of course, the answers to my questions are in the Bible.  Always in the Bible, the answers are.

The Bible tells us that in Christ is the hidden treasures of knowledge and wisdom of God.  The proverbs contain some of the wisdom of God.  So, the proverbs is a glimpse of Christ.  So, it follows that Christ must have listened to us first before answering us.  How is that possible?  God listening to us first?  Aren't we supposed to listen to God first?  On the cross, God listened to us first.  He took our sins and laid them on Christ.  He listened to us, to our cries, to our sorrows, to our flaws, to our imperfections, and to our shortcomings - each and every one of them and laid them all on the cross.  And, when they were properly laid on the cross, He answered us on the third day by raising up bodily from the dead.  No foolishness and shame for Jesus dying on the cross - He listened before answering us by taking away our sins with the resurrection.  He answered us by renewing our minds through the gift of the indwelt Holy Spirit.  The wisdom of God stands.  The Word of God stands firm in the heavens.

This is a big challenge for me because I love to share my opinions.  I think it is a big challenge for all of us.  If I could be mindful of listening more, I think I am moving in the right direction.  But always remember, that God not only listened to us first, He loved us first so we can love.  Love is most important as it is because of love that we should listen first in communication.

Monday morning, someone called me to lecture about etiquette and how it was not kosher to wear a ripped suit pants to church (see the previous post).  "It was disrespectful to God," the person told me.  And, the person also told me that it tells others in the church that you aren't serious about church and didn't care about the message being given.  I told the person, "God doesn't care how we look, He cares about our hearts."  The person replied, "That's true, but people care about how you look."  I was like, "I have to work."  The person said, "bye." I went back to work.

The old me would argue the point to the bitter end.  Yeah, you know it.  I was right, absolutely right that God does not care if I went to His house with ripped pants and His children should not care either.  I have over ten suits and I wear them when the temperature is less than 60 degrees.  I wear them for functional reasons.  The wool is nice because it keeps me warm and cozy.  It is also light and portable.  Most of the suits I have were hand-me-downs from my uncle.  God provided me stuff and I just put the stuff to good use.  In fact, I rarely buy clothes, which is a blessing for me.

I am actually really poor.  I own nothing.  I am a steward.  And, God is just generous, lavishly giving me stuff.  And, yes, He has taken it all away at points in my life and He could do that again (just as He took away the suit - see previous post), but whenever I have stuff that He provided me, I am going to use it - I am not going to keep it buried and give it back to Him as He gave it to me.

"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (Matthew 25:24-30 NIV)

I used that suit and it showed my family that the Holy Spirit changed me, now me with less of a temper than before.  The "talent" that God gave me, in this case, the suit, multiplied as witness for the kingdom (see previous post).

Last Sunday afternoon, some members of the extended family came together to celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday.  One of the families came into Chicago from Michigan.  They had a dog, which they adopted.  They speculated that the dog was abused by the previous owner because the dog is always on edge and has temper tantrums and/or fits for the smallest reasons.  I also have problems with temper too, but the Lord has since worked with that and my temper have not flared up for a very long time.  Anyway, my last interaction with this dog was not the prettiest one - it wasn't the best Christian witness either.  But, I always tell myself that we aren't called to witness to animals, which is really an excuse.  And, God really communicated that to me this last Sunday that our Christian witness is not only to people, but all the time! (I love dogs, don't get me wrong, it's just this dog.....is a special dog who needs lots more love).  Yeah, the next time you yell and scream at an animal for chewing up your precious shoes - think what would Jesus do because people are watching. 

I was already at the birthday party and when the Michigan family came, the dog saw me.  He growled at me.  I just ignored him - I had already forgotten about what happened last time, but the dog didn't.  He was ready to take revenge.  He laid there, waiting for the right time.  He went at me and bit my pants and ripped it.  When my pants ripped, I knew what the Lord was telling me right away.  And, I was just laughing with joy, literally.  My aunt was confused.  My other aunt told her that the dog just ripped my suit up and said that some damages were in order.  My aunt just said, "the pants were probably ripped beforehand.  He's just laughing.  Look at him.  He's isn't mad at all. (She knows from past experience something like this would get me mad like no other - it would probably absorb me the entire day and the family probably would not hear the end of it the entire party)."  I looked at her and said, "Your dog ripped up my pants alright, but don't worry too much about it.  I was planning to throw this suit out anyway."  It was strange, but this was the worst suit I had (a little tight for me, worn-bottoms, I did not know why I put it on that morning, but now I do and that was part of the laughter that I had as I knew why the Spirit moved me to wear the worst suit I had in the closet for my Grandma's 80th birthday party).

The kids (my cousins) eventually knew about it too and they told me how much the dog "hated" me.  Boy, they remembered.  Opps!  I told them that I probably deserved this after yelling at the dog the last time. They didn't say anything, but one of them asked, "Aren't you mad?"  I was like, "It's just a suit."  She said bewildered, "But you get mad really easily, what happened to you?"  I just smiled.

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:19-23 NLT)

All credit belongs to the indwelt Holy Spirit.  Praise the Lord! 

I am taking a challenge to read the entire Bible in one year, but I do not want to read it in sequential order, whether the entire Bible or parts of the Bible or parts of books.  There is something about reading stuff in order that is boring to me.  I want a program where it is random, where I can read the entire Bible, but skip around it almost every day, randomly.  I know that may sound strange, but I am really thirsty for God's word right.  I do not want to drink and eat it in the way that people usually do.  I want to drink and eat in a another way so that I may absorb it and enjoy in a special way.  Yeah, thinking about this just makes melt into Him and just learn. 

So, if anyone knows of any Bible reading programs that allows randomness, please suggest some.

Thank you so much.

Throughout my reflections upon the words that God had given me Himself and God had given through others, I had come to one salient conclusion, that He is giving me pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  We do not necessarily know how the pieces fit together and sometimes, it is frustrating and sometimes, the pieces that do not seem to fit anywhere are the golden ones.  Let me give you an example (based on real life, but changed around a lot).  Let's say that I prophesied anonymously that Mr. Smith needed to save money for repairs coming to his car and the Lord told me to send it Him anonymously.  Mr. Smith reads the mail and knows that it is from the Lord because he recently got a bonus from work and had been praying about what to do with the money.  In six months, the power train on his car goes bad and he has the money to repair it.  He thought about donating all the money to the church, but God saved me from financial ruin literally.  In the meanwhile, Mr. Smith and I had been having some relational difficulties.  A few months down the road, God uses the prophesy to reconcile the relationship as His love flowed through me to Mr. Smith and Mr. Smith responds to this love.

[I said, "Mr. Smith, I have a message for you.  Father God loves you very much.  That's why you told me to send you that letter anonymously to help you avoid financial ruin ruin.  And, because He loves you, I love you."  I gave Mr. Smith a hug.  Mr. Smith responds, "when things like this happen, I know that God exists."  The relationship was reconciled right there, through the power of God, not through the discussions of man.]

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. (1 Corinthians 13:9-10 NIV)

For I knew in part (that something would happen to the car) and I prophesy in part (that something would happen to the car), I did know that God was working on reconciliation before things even happened fell apart.  He knew the complete picture of what was going on and I did not - I only prophesy what I knew in part, hence, the reason why prophesies are jigsaw puzzles.  And, the prophecy was pretty useless to my relationship with Mr. Smith without love.  Hence,

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. (1 Corinthians 13:8-13 MSG)

So, God taught me through my experiences that no matter how much or what I know through the Spirit of God, I am worthless without love.  The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are useless without our trust in God, our hope in God, and our love for Jesus and for each other.

During the weekend, someone asked me to share my testimony with him.  My testimony usually goes something like this.  God told me at the age of five how I was to find His Son.  God told me about the "allegory of the gospel of grace" when I was five, how the world, both believers and non-believers were going to preach the gospel via an allegory.  This event and other prophesied events occurred when I was 26 turning into 27, which eventually led me to believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior.  Some evangelicals would like to believe that it was a person who led me to Christ because this was the framework, the way that they were trained to think of witnessing and of sharing the gospel, however, God is not limited to working in this way and to limit God to working in this way is utter arrogance on man's part.  Who is man to tell God that God cannot only do things a certain way?  My testimony is this: the Father led me to the Son (John 6:44).

Anyway, I was sharing my testimony.  When the "allegory of the gospel of grace" was occurring back in December 2006 - January 2007, I asked the voice speaking to me, claiming He was God, to provide another witness as the Bible states that the testimony must be established by two or more witnesses.  He provided another witness indeed, not only to the existence of the "allegory of the gospel of grace" as I once thought, but to prophesy my salvation.  I am now aware of the gift of prophecy, how it is for today, and I noticed that he prophesied my salvation in a post on the discussion forum (this prophesy is indeed from God because only God knows when someone is going to accept Christ).  He called the "allegory of the gospel of grace" an object lesson for all involved illustrating the fall of man, his inability to keep the law, and his need for God's grace all through my folly.  He declared the trial, which was not even finished, an object lesson of the gospel.  It was two days before I was let back into the forum and was touched by the graces of the forum, which led me to understand the graces given to me by Christ Himself.

How wonderful is that?  God prophesied my salvation to me Himself when I was five.  This man of God, my mentor in the faith for about the first two years of my Christian life, who taught me a lot about the Bible, prophesied my salvation forty-two days before it happened (December 30, 2006 post - another memory stone).

The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you're thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he's thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don't have to rely on the world's guesses and opinions. We didn't learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we're passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.

The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can't receive the gifts of God's Spirit. There's no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God's Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing, and can't be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah's question, "Is there anyone around who knows God's Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?" has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ's Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:10-16 MSG)