¹¹ O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
I was cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah 2

Artaxerxes Sends Nehemiah to Jerusalem

¹ In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; ² so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”
I was very much afraid, ³ but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

⁴ The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, ⁵ and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”

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From the story of Nehemiah, I learned that I should initiate everything I do with prayer. Before discussing his will about rebuilding his homeland to the king,  Nehemiah said his prayer first. I want to be like him too, saying my prayer before doing something. I do agree that praying will not always make me success in everything I do, but I believe that praying will make me understand what God actually doing to me. Because what is good in my opinion is not always good in his point of view, and I believe that He knows exactly what is best for me, more than I do.

Help me God to remember to commence everything with a prayer.

Well, I’ll never now about the things in the future and I don’t want to forget my Jesus in my planning (again). Previously, I proudly made my plan without asking Him for guidance and now I am lost in the middle of nowhere. So, from now on, I am planning with Him, not by myself.

Good future for me is certain based on Your promise, but what is that “good future” remains uncertain. Anyway, thanks for the guarantee. I will live with trust and obey, with Your help of course.

¹²For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

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Yes, the word of God is active. Every time I read the bible, if I read seriously not only as a routine, I feel all inside of my hearts is revealed. It seems like the bible knows what I am doing, what I am thinking, all of my sin that’s no one else know. The Word gives me warning when I am sinning and turning out of His way of righteousness. It gives me encouragement when I feel despair. Once again, verse 12 is exactly true, The word of God is active, it is not only informing me, it is transforming me.

God, thanks for Your words that I read everyday. May it not only passing me by, but transforming me. Thank you for revealing my faults, my sins, and make me remember to repent. Help me not to repeat after I repent, because it is very difficult.

¹¹ The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

¹⁵ The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. ¹⁶ Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. ¹⁷ Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. ¹⁸ Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”

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Thanks God, You are not to let me down. Thank’s for giving me hope.

²⁹But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³²So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.³³But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

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This story about the good Samaritan is a very obsolete for me, since I’ve read and heard about this since my Sunday school, and till this time it might has been read or heard for tens. But just like other parts of the bible, it gives something new every time I read. And this time, I got a strong message of doing good to others beyond his/her expectation. This is not meant to be doing something good to get a promotion,  a good grade or another good payback, but this is about doing good even if the person think that I will not do that for him. I don’t know how to explain this clearly, but it leads to a conclusion that I have to do good to everyone, no matter who they are, what they think about me, what they did to me in the past, what they will do at the future, and any other consideration that resist me to give my hands on them.

Lord, your command is always difficult to be done. I confess, I can’t do that by myself. It’ll be 99% probability for me not to care about someone in need. However, I know that I can ask You for help so in every single thing I do, I do what makes you happy, and brings glory to You.

SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) established codes to designate the engine oil grades which you can find the code on the package of the oil. For example SAE 15W30, means that is a multi-grade oil that meet the viscosity standard of SAE 15W and SAE 30. For details of the standard, below is the SAE J300 that enlist the viscosity specifications of certain SAE code oil.

That chart seems to be useless for most of us. Maybe another figure below can give you what you are expecting of reading this article. This shows us how to select the oil based on operational temperature. This can be useful enough, although actually the selection is not only based on the temperature but also the load and engine speed. In fact, I’m not an expert on this field, so I’m just sharing the very basic things.

(image source: http://www.fluidmasters.com.au/sae_viscosity.asp, taken without permission, sorry)

⁹“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command.¹⁵I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.

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To what extent should I love others? According to Jesus’ command in verse 12, it should be like what Jesus did for me. It’ll be too difficult to do exactly the same as Jesus did, i.e. laid down his life for me. But at least, I have an upper standard on what kind of love I should posses and show to others. I have to love others to the best that I can do. One thing that always be my greatest problem is controlling my emotion. Once I am being angry, I can’t remember anymore about the Words that I read everyday. I show no mercy to others, I can no longer have my tongue under control. All that I do in my anger is doing what my satanic brain commands, not what the holy spirit commands.

Lord thank you for being my best friend that gave Your life for me. Help me to live as what you want me to live as Your friend, obey your command in any condition. Help me to control my emotion, let the spirit lead me to avoid sin when I am angry.

1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

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Sometimes I feel that I am losing my dreams. One day, I got an opportunity to join a company I’ve been dreaming of since my elementary school. But, at the time I prepared to go, my dad shown disagree with my plan due to the low salary offered by the company. Now I am trying to forget about my dreams, at least for a moment, and looking for a job at a company that can pay me more. Still, I have a dream to join that company in the future.

My reading today told me, that the Lord have an even greater plan than I do. I have a plan based on my way of thinking, but He is in fact the One that knows what will be the best for me. Just what He did to Joseph, I do believe that He has a plan for me, He is preparing for my future for the glory of God.

Now I am keep praying, down on my knees with humble in my every single day, thank God for His plans for me, ask for the job, and trust Him that He’ll gimme the best at His time.

One important thing that I have to struggle for is avoiding doing sins. Like what Joseph did, kept away from sin. In verse 10, he wasn’t only “refused to go to bed with her” but also “even be with her.”, since being with her would allow more risk to be tempted and he didn’t want to disappoint his master, and of course he didn’t want to disappoint his God. Well, for this thing I keep asking God for strength, because I am always lose in temptations.

God give me strength, so I can stand any temptations, and be a good boy before You. Then I will come to You with no burden, burden of being a sinful and a stubborn hypocrite.

Help me Lord, to walk Your path, to obey Your words.