New Chapter 23/05/2013

Hey there, so this is about processes I've been going through til today :)

Years have passed and I know that I've grown and I'm still growing
1-2 years ago I was offered a certain responsibility, which was a huge one, (started from a smaller one for sure), yet in doing that, I faced many pressures from many places.
Fulfilling these tasks are not easy, even without them, studying Mechatronics in Monash is never easy since the beginning

But I looked at how God has led me through years of processes, and wow, I'm standing firmer compared to how I did before :)
God never ceases to amaze me!
Through commitments I built with people I love: Fresh Com, Fresh Ministry, ISCF (until last year) etc. I was brought to a long journey that sharpens me very much.

There was times when I felt like I'd fallen and I was just holding a spiky rope to make sure I didn't fall off. I often thought, why I should keep some of these. I'm bleeding because I try to put everything together, maybe it's better if I release my hands, that's not my responsibility (I had this option actually, after consulting with my leaders, and I know noone would blame me for quitting in a good manner).

I kept learning about priorities and commitments, even higher price I should pay, tears-sweat-blood I should shed and often time I was brought down to my knees.
But that's not my point, for everything I pay for Jesus is worth it
Even currently I can't foresee how these services and efforts (ministries, study, cell groups) will turn out to be, I just believe "He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecc 3:11a)

Ah, about commitment, through these people I learn so many things I never expected actually, some of them sharpen me really 'harshly' that sometimes I unconsciously tried to run away.
What I mean is not about sharpening process that may cause anger, misunderstanding etc (you may suspect what Kak Tama did to me, but this is not about him :P), it's about them who sharpen me due to their past, their relationship with me, their words, their behaviour, or their lifestyles.

Once Kak Tama told me: "Beruntung ya kamu, dapet anak2 komsel yang baik."
Compared to these "new" commitments I got myself into, I could say that my previous commitments/communities are really good and soft. I'm thankful meeting them, cell group mates who didn't cause too much troubles haha!

I might be hurt  here and there, yet I'm still holding on, it is because I can see God's plan for me through this year's processes, this new chapter. There are many aspects of my life that haven't been spotlighted, because it was not the time yet, not it's the time.
I could run away (not an option, just my ego, although noone would blame me either), I could be giving logical reasons, I could use "how do I know that this is my time to do this?"
I just know one thing: God wants me to be faithful in this new level, this sole reason is enough compared with other reasons I could think of to avoid this process.

Like everyone else, many things were unclear at first, and I just walked by faith step by step. As results, I started to know myself even deeper, about my weaknesses unexposed before (I did not even know this aspect of mine), learnt to overcome my feeling, to stay neutral in facing problem (mine or other people's) and see from God's perspectives. I learn all of these through this year's chapter of life ;), but above all else, I'm grateful that I could learn more about God's Heart!

Hey you guys, who sharpen me many times, I thank y'all.
I hope I'm not the only one who learn from our journey together,
and let's keep praying for one another.
God bless :)

Engkau di Dalamku - Total Submission

Hey guys
Been a long time since I felt the overwhelming feelings that I needed to write something

I know that life with God is full of adventures
But I never asked it to be like the J-Dorama, K-Drama or whatsoever (or I might have, too much manga/anime when I was a kid maybe)
I realized that recently my life turned to be quite complicated, full of emotions, wonderful things...
I was having this kind of feeling "We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun" (Terry Jacks)
It was fun, filled with joy, tears and smiles

I think I gotta be thankful for being invited to participate in this 'movie' haha
Life with God is never boring indeed and I'm sincerely grateful for that
All my best kept things: A certain principle, dreams, or even my whole life's plan were being turned upside down by God (certainly for a beautiful purpose, I haven't seen right now)
Just right after the moment I could accept that God's plan, I was slapped and told not to be arrogant for the strengths came from God Himself.
It continued to the point where I was reminded again about Total Submission/Surrender

Please pardon me, I would like to present you Sidney Mohede's song that reminds me about Total Submission:


ENGKAU DI DALAMKU
Pongky Prasetyo & Sidney Mohede
Giving My Best


KAULAH PENULIS HIDUPKU
KAU MEMBUAT S'GALANYA BARU
ENGKAU DI DALAMKU
DAN KUADA DALAM-MU
TAK ADA YANG TAK MUNGKIN BAGI-MU

KU DICIPTA UNTUK-MU
'TUK MEMBAWA HARUM NAMA-MU
ENGKAU DI DALAMKU
DAN KUADA DALAM-MU
KINI KUDATANG MENCARI WAJAH-MU

MENGASIHI-MU S'LALU DENGAN S'GENAP HATIKU
MENCINTAI SELURUH PERBUATAN-MU
MENGABDIKAN HIDUPKU SESUAI RENCANA-MU
KU MAU MENYEMBAH-MU SAMPAI AKHIR HAYATKU

KAU MEMAHAMI HATIKU
HANYA KAU YANG MENGERTIKU S'LALU
ENGKAU DI DALAMKU DAN KUADA DALAM-MU
KINI KU DATANG MENCARI WAJAH-MU



The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.” - Job 1:21b

Different Kind of Woman: Sisakan perawan utk kami: Purity and virginity.

Different Kind of Woman: Sisakan perawan utk kami: Purity and virginity.: WARNING: Post yg satu ini berisi bahasa2 vulgar. You've been warned! =P Beberapa waktu lalu gw baca sebuah artikel tulisan seorang cowo...

TGIF: Trust! God is Faithful

Hey you, whoever you are, who've been with me as friends in my inner circle for a long time or even recently (especially this year). This is for you!

I can't express how grateful I am to know you guys
Being trusted by you
Sharing our life's stories
Support one another
Watch each others' back
Unite to walk on God's will (Phil 3:10-11 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.)

One more time, thank you for your willingness to share your stories with me.
And as you've always known: I'm a good secret-keeper ;)
Through every process with you, I'm asking more and more of God and His heart
"Not only to accept the past but also to help, support and maintain each others until we win our fights"


Short story, it was not before this year I found my calling and was affirmed about this.
In an instance, God said: "Okay, You've got your part (what you'd been asking for), haven't you? Now it's your turn to help your friends."
And boom! Welcome to One on One, where I learnt to know some people even deeper


Meeting these people, I was like: "Eh, that happened to me? Really? Me? Yesterday? Dia? dan dia? ... ...." (terus berasa dicubit n dibilang: "Sudah, sudah, itu bukan mimpi. Bantu mereka dalam pergumulan2 mereka, temani mereka untuk semakin mengenal Aku")
It  does feel like it is a dream, but it's not.


Another process: There is my one HUGE principle in my whole life, and it was suddenly being turned upside down.
Again, I was like: Aw, mannn.... Aw, mannn... Aw, mannn.... (you can repeat it many times until you're satisfied, haha), I didn't even know what to say anymore at that time.

You know what else even made me speechless? 

In one single day

Morning: I finally learnt to reconcile with my friend's past,

Afternoon-evening: Two different people affirmed my struggling through their different speeches, 

and at Night, I was told: "Now you're able to accept his/her past. Don't be arrogant! Thinking like you're capable enough to accept it. It's not by your might, it's Mine. It's not about you, it's about Me."

(sounds harsh, but I didn't respond it that way, because I know He's teaching me about TOTAL Surrender/Submission to His power)


I don't have any other ulterior motives to pray and support you all (it's never for my purpose, or that I'm a too kind/generous person and stuffs. Should I have that kind of motives, I'd been broken down unto pieces since the very first time we met)
I'm just really longing that we win against our struggle, no matter how TOUGH it is
On the other hand, I'm really really blessed that I learn to walk my life more in total submission to Him, that I need His heart.
Believe it, our sharing session would be long ended if we (I) don't have God's heart.

Not that I've obtained everything about His heart, like what Paul said on Phil 3:12

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Do not give up, pals!
We're destined to be a winner in Christ
Do our part, be faithful in our process, depend solely on Him, leave out the rest to Him :)
#LiveBold
TGIF: Trust! God is Faithful

On The Box: Today’s Show Notes: Friday, 29th March 2013.

On The Box: Today’s Show Notes: Friday, 29th March 2013.: “Couldn’t the resurrection have just been a hoax or a myth? Is there any evidence Jesus rose from the dead?” 1 Cor. 15:17:  “If Ch...

Blessed are the PURE in heart

Hey, guys, it's been a while
So I decided to do some writings in the midst of all my business and activities

Well, writing is fun

Anyway, here we go, Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God - Matthew 5:8

As you can see, the word 'pure' here (katharos) has this meaning:
clean, pure
physically
purified by fire
in a similitude, like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit
in a levitical sense
clean, the use of which is not forbidden, imparts no uncleanness
ethically
free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt
free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine
blameless, innocent
unstained with the guilt of anything

Such an interesting definition: Purified by fire

My first question was: What is this purificating fire? Process? Certain (religious) activities? Meditating?
While the fact is:
"The heart of man is naturally unclean; nor is it in the power of man to make it clean, or to be pure from his sin; nor is any man in this life, in such sense, so pure in heart, as to be entirely free from sin." - Gills Exposition

There must be something to be done in order to purify our unclean state!

Bear with me, we'll continue reading other verses
1 John 1:7 clearly states:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Ephesians 1:13-14

13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Hebrew 12:29

For our God is a consuming fire.

John Wesley stated: For our God is a consuming fire - in the strictness of his justice, and purity of his holiness.

See what I mean?

Through Jesus, something is done to us!

This very concept of Jesus' sacrifice as the Lamb of God explains a LOT about the concept of grace God's given us (eternal salvation).
Despite being naturally unclean and failing to do God's justice, by accepting Jesus, we are purified by God's spirit (fire) and hence we become clean (katharos)

Next: "For they shall see God"

See (Horao):
to see with the eyes
to see with the mind, to perceive, know
to see, i.e. become acquainted with by experience, to experience
to see, to look to
to take heed, beware
to care for, pay heed to
I was seen, showed myself, appeared

Of course we still remember how Esther was struggling in order to see the King Ahasyweros:

"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." - Esther 4:16

There's consequency in seeing the King without permission, not a pleasant one for sure. (Moreoever seeing the King of all kings)

And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. - Esther 5:2

It's even possible that we (she) did not win favour in King's sight and therefore got banished/killed

Seeing the king's face is a Hebrew expression:

2 Kings 1:19,"Those that stood in the king's presence;" in the Hebrew, those that saw the face of the king; that is, who were his favorites and friends. So here, to see God, means to be his friends and favorites, and to dwell with him in his kingdom. - Barne's Notes

John Gills added to Mat 5:8

(see the God) In this life, enjoying communion with him, both in private and public, in the several duties of religion, in the house and ordinances of God; where they often behold his beauty, see his power and his glory, and taste, and know, that he is good and gracious: and in the other world, where they shall see God in Christ, with the eyes of their understanding; and God incarnate, with the eyes of their bodies, after the resurrection; which sight of Christ, and God in Christ, will be unspeakably glorious, desirable, delightful, and satisfying; it will be free from all darkness and error, and from all interruption; it will be an appropriating and transforming one, and will last for ever - Gills Exposition

My last question: Are you friends of God (pure in heart)?

On The Box: Today’s Show Notes: Thursday, 21st February 2013.

On The Box: Today’s Show Notes: Thursday, 21st February 2013.: What Hollywood Believes – Bruce Willis Bruce Willis gave his thoughts on religion: “Organized religions in general, in my opinion, ...

"Why A. C. Milan?" by Me

Associazione Calcio Milan, one of Serie A football clubs
I'm sure many of you have known this name (why many, not all? because my family does not)

Since 1899

When I was younger, I didn't support a certain football team, I just loved to watch a good football match (but I did not focus on a certain sport either, I played badminton, then basketball, football then futsal. So it was 2006-2008 that I started watching football rather seriously, such a newbie huh? haha)

Alright, due to my lackness of knowledge that time, I only had several 'great' players (according to me): Gianluigi Buffon, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (I was proud for being able to memorize his full name), Oliver Kahn, Iker Casillas, Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Del Piero, David Beckham. #sangatsedikit
I was not even interested in the older generation players like Shevchenko, Maradona, Batistuta, Pirlo, Ronaldo Delima etc. Silly younger me, really

Then I was introduced this player and his football team, rather than focusing on how awesome his performance was (he was known with motto: Impossible is Nothing), I learnt about his integrity to live as a devout Christian while he is maintaining his status as a great footballer.
Just imagine, in Brazil, he and his partner (Caroline Celico) remained sanctity until marriage, even a child like me understood how difficult that was
I also learnt about his response about the career-threatening swimming pool accident
I was like: WOOOW :O
I began to love this A.C. Milan team because of his impact, he'd moved to Real Madrid though

I present to you, Ricardo Kaka

Some wondered why I support this kind of non-mainstream team, some said that the reason I support A.C. Milan was because I could not move on (let it remaind silent for some people, ha!), .

Anyway, who does not want Fernando Torres to return to Liverpool, and hopefully regain his prime condition? (I know there are some people who don't, but never mind, just take it as "Noone does not", lol). 

Same thing goes for Kaka's returning to A.C. Milan, at least for me

I know A.C. Milan was experiencing some kind of turbulences and now at the 3rd place of Serie A (after serious instabilities in their performances)

They are not like the mighty Juventus (like I said, I love Buffon and Del Piero haha), they do not have a powerful weapon like Barca's Tiki Taka, etc etc. But I still love them

Milan is the first football team that I love, the one and only *cieh

Il Faraone

You know what, one more player who made me said: "This is it! I love this player" was Stephan El Shaarawy, Serie A Young Footballer of the Year (2012).

Looking at his skills makes me questioning if he is really one year older than me o_O

And Milan now have the trio (mohawk) youngsters::

Left to Right:
M'Baye Niang (1994) - Mario Balotelli (1990) - El Shaarawy (1992)

I care less about the other young players, except for David de Gea (1990) the Monkey Mutant from Manchester United huahahaha

Let me conclude this: 

I love A.C Milan but I'm just a football lover.

It would be really great if we can stop the hating, harsh words among teams, annoying action like green laser things, etc.

When you're supporting a team, what you really want is they win the competition (whatever it is), and it doesn't necessarily mean hating other team, am I right?

You support this team, I support another one, does it make us an enemy?

Come on, let's just enjoy the game and stop hating (although I do hate some players' actions such as diving, fighting, doing violence)

#ForzaMilan

Recent Updates 20/02/2013

Chinese New Year is over, some families still keep the CNY snakcs for their visitors though.
This time, my update includes some conversations during Pai Cia (sanjo), visiting friends or whatever you call it.

Some are good to hear, some are heart-breaking ones...

My parent's friends asked me whether I have got myself a GF (I don't know if they realize I'm just 20 this year or not haha)
Thanks to friends who taught me to answer this kind of question: "Indra, I think your GF-to-be is most likely a nun, pastor or 'like Jesus'."
It effectively closed all of those questions, thank you thank you hahahaha

Personally I have made another vow to God about relationship subject.
What for? #IntimacyWithGod, FGCC's daily devotion project convinced me to do this even more :)

The heart-breaking conversation are like this:
A friend of ours told us, "In doing business, being honest will not make you successful. We are a businessman, it's impossible for us to be honest."
Oh wow...
Many people think like that
But I learn to have God's heart:
Love the sinners, hate the sin

It's difficult, really...

Can't they see that God they (we) worship is a living God

Why do they act like if they are keeping their integrity, God will not take care of them?

Ps. Arman Harijanto (I wrote a bit about him on previous post) is one of the people with integrity.

Maintaining righteousness in living his life, proving that God will take care of the rest.

Too bad, many people just can't see it, can't see how much God loves them even until now.

Nevertheless, rather than focusing on useless things like: Viewing who are the false converts and who are true converts, we should do something much useful, loving them for an example.

Supporting this opinion, I should tell my another story, I attended a workshop, where a musician, named Ps. Xiau Dong San and a speaker, Ps. Samuel Sia were sharing their different topics in one same event.

People started to lose their focus, they chatted and stuffs.

Great lesson I learnt is that both Pastors were still teaching enthusiastically, in spite of the numbers of people who really paid attention to them might be less than the one who did not.

Simple, like rain, it pours impartially

No matter how good, how bad, how this and how that you are, rain will pour fairly for you when it's the time (mencegah ada komentar aneh2 seperti: kalo musim kemarau gimana? dll dll).

I also felt that something was off with me lately.

I don't know what it is and I realized that it's about Fresh Ministry (for me).

Until yesterday, I talked to Kak Tama, asked whether he wanted to say something to me

"Coba untuk lebih serius tapi tetap santai", he said...

I was like, yes that's the answer! I did not behave like my usual self, sangat ga santai, ga tau alasannya apa.

Thank you so much to friends who still maintain my life and evaluate my working or studying.

I can not do much without you guys as my family, team and friends.

God bless :)

Do we focus more on not misrepresenting Christ or representing Christ?

Do we focus more on not misrepresenting Christ or representing Christ?

Because we can work all we want on not being a misrepresentation of Him, but when it comes down to it, how have we actually represented Him?

"Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary, use words."

It's a great quote and all, but if we aren't actually making an effort to be a representation, it means nothing.

Be an example by your actions, yes, but also by your words. Your thoughts. Your deeds.

If you see a need that you can meet, take care of it.

The Bible clearly states that if we know the good we are supposed to do, and choose not to do it, we've sinned.

A simple act of love and open the door to salvation, but if we don't take that first step, we've lost our opportunity.

At the end of it all, what's more important? Not risking it and getting rejected and having your feelings hurt? Or taking the leap of faith and pursuing the lost?

Besides, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting God, and if that fact doesn't hurt you more, you need to reflect on what you're placing first in your life.

~Michael Schaffer (Christian Memes Founder)