grace

Conquering Fear with Courage

Posted on by christinekang

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Journeying through this life with God is definitely an incredible adventure. From my personal experience, I can absolutely testify that He takes me from glory to glory but usually that new level of glory doesn’t come without courage. Looking back at my personal growth with the Lord, I see how far he’s brought me out from the pit of destruction all the way to placing my feet on solid ground. I can rest assured in knowing that the Holy Spirit is even more committed to my sanctification than I am. The only challenge with the process is that we are only sanctified to the degree we surrender and say “yes” to the Lord in facing our fears and sins. This requires incredible courage.

As I mature in the Lord, I find that there’s always deeper healing and more freedom to be had. Fears I thought I had dealt with are exposed as the Lord very gently yet very deliberately brings them to the light. For example, I had a very chaotic and tumultuous upbringing. Ever since I can remember, I was driven by fear. If I was given a responsibility, I carried it out in the fear of thinking that if I failed to carry it out, I’d get severely punished. Because I had lived with this fear almost my entire life, I had come to be very comfortable with the feeling of fear and anxiety. I was almost deceived to the point that it was normal and that without it I’d even be unproductive. I’d give excuses saying that I loved working under pressure. But as I grew in the Lord and started experiencing longer and longer spurts of freedom, I learned to discern these feelings of stress, fear, and anxiety and rightfully began to HATE them. Once you get a taste of freedom, there’s no turning back. I am entirely committed to facing all of my fears so that I can go back to my originally-designed state of freedom. One fear I still struggle with is the fear of man. Many people think i’m bold and that these fears no longer have any effect on me, but that is far from the truth. Although I desperately try to anchor myself in my true identity in Christ, I continue to realize new remnants of my troublesome past. At times, it can manifest in an unhealthy desire to please others or even in feeling that i have no voice. It is then that the Lord reminds me that we are not meant to act from a place of anxiety or fear. We are meant to act from a place of peace and rest! Our inheritance is unlimited joy, freedom, and every good gift from our Heavenly Father!

Kris Vallotton very wisely says, “Courage does not mean you don’t have feelings of fear. We all can have feelings of fear. Courage is rather not making decisions based on those feelings but based on the truth of God regardless of how you feel.” Courage is something that God places in our hearts. Without God and community, it is impossible to do anything we are remotely scared of. When we are in fellowship with Christ, He strengthens us and encourages us to keep pressing in because there will be breakthrough! Just the same, when we are in fellowship with each other, we encourage or inject courage into each other so that we can keep pressing in on our journey no matter how hard the enemy fights us or how much he tries to DIScourage us. He is out to search, kill, and destroy everything that is made in the likeness of God. He knows that God’s children are made in His image and inherit everything He has. The enemy also knows that the time of his reign on earth is limited so he tries to steal our courage in everything we do. Unfortunately, he has succeeded in discouraging many good Christians away from their godly callings and divine paths. But if there is one thing I know, it is that God is infinitely greater and stronger than absolutely anything Satan or any of his minions can throw at us! As long as we have breath, there will be grace and redemption. That is the God we believe in. He is so beautiful and easy to love because He always works for the good of those who love Him.

As we continue on this journey, let’s remember who our real enemy is. If we are to have success as the body of Christ, we must not get caught up in jealously, comparison, lust, or pride. Rather, we must love and encourage one another in unity. This will allow us to flourish as individuals and as a corporate body of Christ. We will be able to bring the best versions of ourselves for His Kingdom and for His glory.

Strength In Numbers

Posted on by christinekang

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Many people believe that abolishing human trafficking in our generation is impossible. But what if one person can make a significant impact for lasting change? It certainly takes faith. It definitely takes courage. But most importantly, it takes risk. Risk takes you to the edge of the cliff and faith gives you the ability to jump off, knowing that you won’t fall into impending death but instead, fly.

One of the greatest challenges in fighting human trafficking is the challenge of awakening America (or truthfully the world) to this devastating reality. It happens in everyone’s backyard whether you realize it or not. There are local task forces mobilizing and fighting against this grave problem because it is happening in every city. There are great politicians and lawmakers fighting for justice to prosecute pimps and johns. There are effective organizations supporting victims via rescues, safehouses, and transitional homes while bringing greater awareness to the public. We even have noble members of the corporate sector committing to ethical business practices. But before we celebrate too early, there are even more corporations, politicians, and people in general who turn a blind eye to the tragic truth that modern day slavery is more prevalent than ever before.

Why is it such a problem? It’s multi-layered, really. The media’s increasing glorification of sex has bred a generation of desensitized Americans who now create a significant portion of the worldwide demand for human trafficking. Pornography, itself, access to pornography, and the age at which children are first exposed to pornography have all changed drastically since the advent of the internet. The days of seemingly harmless Playboy-like images are long gone and have been replaced by obscene and dehumanizing videos of brutally mistreated (and often under-aged) people engaging in sexual acts. These videos show women, children, and even men, being treated like objects only meant to fulfill one’s sexual desires. They are even portrayed as seeming to enjoy the mistreatment. Children have access to this pornography, literally at their fingertips, at an average age of 12 years old on smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, etc. They are being conditioned from a very impressionable age, when their minds are developing and bodies are changing, that it is okay to treat a girl/boy like a sexual object. Their minds get infiltrated with distorted fantasies and lust. The porn industry is so disgustingly conniving, knowing that free porn that satisfies today will not satisfy tomorrow. Many people who fall into deep porn addiction seem to develop a tolerance to it, much like a drug addiction. The tolerance effect causes these people to seek stronger and rougher porn to get the same satisfaction. So why is this a problem? People who buy trafficked women, men, and/or children aren’t born overnight. They’ve made very conscious decisions of flirting with fantasy and lust in their minds and hearts that eventually give birth to full blown sin. It starts with small choices. In order to combat human trafficking, we need to get to the root of the issue, which is a heart issue.

Why do people turn a blind eye to this problem? Many people think that human trafficking does not happen in their backyards. They feel very removed from the problem and believe that someone else will take care of it. These people underestimate the power of their own lives. They don’t know that their own voice can speak for the voiceless. These victims are more than a statistic. They truly are someone’s daughter, son, friend, or neighbor. Just last year, a trafficking ring was busted in Irvine, CA (ranked as FBI’s safest city in the country 10 years in a row) in a high-end apartment complex I used to live in a few years back. I had no idea this was going on while I was living there. The fact that the apartment complex was a beautiful gated community made it even more unsuspecting. The madam running the trafficking ring was targeting foreign exchange students with student visas. That ensured her clients a fresh supply of girls every few months as their visas expired and new students were trafficked in. An important fact to note is that people who are trafficked are NOT trafficked by their own will. There is a tremendous amount of brutality, violence, mind control, abuse, trauma, and drugs (to exert control) at play. Does this narrative sound familiar? It certainly happened before in history with the African American slaves. Plantation owners and overseers would exert power, unfathomable abuse, trauma, rape, etc. because they believed slaves were their property. We need to stop dehumanizing people.

How can we make a difference? There are many talents and gifts we have that can contribute to the fight. Do you have time? Money? Special skills (graphic design, IT, finance, teaching, ANYTHING) that can contribute to awareness, prevention, intervention? Love has a cost. God so loved… So He gave. We need to give. We also need to start talking in our churches. Whether the topic is about pornography or some other sin, we should foster a safe platform to share and cover those with the courage to do so. Churches have the incredible ability to mobilize and equip their people to take a stand and make a difference. There should be absolutely no shame or judgment on anyone who seeks help or confesses any sin. It is the Lord’s kindness that leads to repentance.

Let me end with a story:

The Starfish Story:

While walking down the beach, a man saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it in the ocean.

As he came closer, he saw thousands of starfish the tide had thrown onto the beach. Unable to return to the ocean during the low tide, the starfish were dying. He observed a young boy picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the ocean.

After watching the seemingly futile effort, the observer said, “There must be thousands of starfish on this beach. It would be impossible for you to save them all. There are simply too many. You can’t save enough to make a difference.”

The young boy smiled with a starfish in hand and tossed it back into the ocean.

“I made a difference with that one.” he replied.

– Anonymous

As many of you know, I have a passion to see modern day slavery end in our generation. To help fight human trafficking, please consider donating (whether it is your time, talents, or finances) to the organization, http://www.27million.com. 27Million is an umbrella organization that networks grassroots movements already fighting on the frontlines on a global level. They raise funds to bless these organizations with their catalytic projects (because unfortunately money and resources are the issue in many cases) and overhead. They provide a platform for these organizations to come together, mutually encourage, pray for, and aid in the fight against human trafficking. There is strength in numbers. Together we can end modern day slavery.