Hanny Setiawan

God or God’s Will?: Finding God’s Will (5)

Our desire and eagerness to find God’s best option in
our life sometimes can blind our spiritual eyes of why
we want to do His Will in the first place. We are busy
to search the "what is" question - the guidance,
and forget that after all the ultimate goal is to
please God by personally and intimately knowing Him.

Proverb 3:5-6 says "Trust in the LORD with all your
heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all
your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths
straight."

To trust somebody, we need to know him/her. Without
any knowledge of who he/she is, it is impossible to
know what he/she relly wants. In other words, we need
to have a solid relationship with God in order to know
what He really has in mind. When David was in the
midst of confusion of not knowing what to do, he cried
out to the Lord " My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? …..and O my God, I cry out by
day, but you do not answer…." (Ps 22 :1-2).

Amazingly, he never lost his trust in God.
Ps 22:7-9 says "All who see me mock me; they hurl
insults, shaking their heads: "He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he
delights in him." The NASB uses the word COMMIT
instead of TRUST. They both are rooted in the same
hebrew word that means to roll.

We need to roll or to give away ourself totally to God
in order to know what He wants. That what TRUST means.
In fact, the word WAIT in the hebrew means TO SERVE
(Jim Reeve, God Never Wastes a Hurt). We are not
sitting around and doing nothing when we wait on His
guidance or answer; instead, we need to serve Him with
all we have.

It does not matter what we say we believe, what we do
reveals what we believe. If we do really trust Him,
our behaviour will show how dependent we are on Him.
Thus, what important is to know Him where His heart
is. Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, once
prayed, "Let my heart be broken with the things that
break the heart of God" (Robert L, Empowering The
Poor). That’s what finding God’s will is all about, to
know His heart.

Therefore, I doubt that we are in His will, if we
don’t have the desire to COMMIT and to SERVE Him. If
our heart is not in His work, how can we seek for
another guidance? We don’t even want to do what we
know He really wants!

Craig Keener in His book Gift and Giver states, "The
foundation of knowing God, is not simply being able to
determine specific guidance from Him, important as
specific guidance is. Knowing God is more than simply
getting guidance for the details of our lives."

I would like to urge all of us to work more on our
relationship with God in every way. Let’s put aside
all barrier that can hinder our relationship with Him.
Remember What matter is God, not us. Let’s us be like
Paul that has all the desire to please Him in every
way.

"To advance the gospel has been Paul’s lifelong
passion; he has thus ordered his life so that nothing
will hinder, and everything advance, the message about
Christ" (Gordon Fee) (yhs)

Brokenness: Finding God’s Will (4)

The nature of finding God’s will is similiar to
decision making process that we know in today’s
management practices.  Unfortunately, the similiarity
presents a dangerous pitfall that can be very counter-
productive.  Choosing God’s best is not merely
choosing the best option offered on table.  In fact,
many times "the best option" is not what God has in
mind.  This means that the right decision does not
necessarily "profitable", and it can cost us
something.

Paul says "But whatever was to my profit I now
consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I
consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing
greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose
sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish,
that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:7-8).  Basically, the
decision that Paul made has literally cost him
everything that he has.

One can argue that Paul is different and that he is
one of his kinds.  And perhaps it is a very true
argument.  But it does not rule out the
fact that Paul (aka Saul) was a mass-killer.  In our
modern vocabulary, Paul was a terorist.  His life was
even far from so-called "a normal life."  In average,
we have "better life" than Paul.  So I strongly
argue that even though Paul is indeed one of his
kinds, by the same Grace, we can be used by God, if we
walk the same path as Paul.  For
Paul what matter is "to gain Christ." And that’s God’s
will.  By choosing God’s way, Paul’s life was
brokenned. The question is whether we are willing to
do the same thing.

In our daily life, decision that we have to make might
not have the same ramification as Paul’s. But still
the concept is the same.  God’s way is always the way
of Cross.  As we live in a sinful world, we tend to
choose the most comfortable and convenient way.  Even
though the "worse option" is not automatically God’s
preferred way either, I would like to suggest to be
more "suspicios" to any easier, looks better, makes
more sense type of options.  Theology of suffering is
always less popular than theology of blessing. But
through the suffering, Jesus Christ has brought to us
the eternal blessing.

Phil 3:10 "I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death"

Are you about making an important decisions? Just take
a moment and ask this question, "For whose’s sake this
decision I make?" Let’s learn to be obedience and
choose God’s way of suffering. It’s not promised as an
easy road, but it’s assured to bring us closer to the
real reality: God Himself. Psalm
34:18 "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and
saves those who are crushed in spirit." (yhs)

Writing His-Story : Finding God’s Will (3)

Finding God’s Will is undoubtedly very crucial for our
personal relationship with God. The more we know Him,
the clearer we’re able see our life’s path. On the
other hand, the more we know His Will, the closer we
will get to Him. But ironically, the personal nature
of the process of finding God’s will could sometimes
become a hindrance to understand what God really
desires us to do. We become "too personal" and think
that the story is just about us.

The center of our faith is the Cross. Any sound
theologies should reflect why God left His divine
nature to become a limited nature and even died in a
such a horrible way, carrying our sins. Walsh and
Middleton says, "Any world view built on the Bible
must focus on Christ’s incarnation - his life, death
and ressurection" (The Transforming Vision, p. 74).
Thus, any paths that we choose should bring us to be
more like Christ (Rm 8:20; Heb 2:10-11). Living, and
thinking like Christ should be the only thing that
matters for us.

Unfortunatelly, we tend to forget that to live is
Christ when we’re in searching of God’s will. We think
that our life is our story and God is merely the
"great counselor" to help us write the right story.
Indeed, He is our counselor, but don’t forget that He
also owns us (I Cor 6:19-20; Gal 2:19-20). In simple
words, when making any decisions, we should always
remember that we simply write His story in our live.
Our story is part of God’s big story, the
meta-narrative.

The discussion brings to my point that to find God’s
will, regardless of how personal the decision we need
to make, we have to be able to set aside our personal
feeling and preference. I strongly believe that it
doesn’t mattter where we want to live, what kind of
jobs we want to do, what type of boys/girls we want to
marry, what academic majors we want to take, and any
other kind of decisions, God’s big story is more
important. The problem is that we can’t always see the
bigger picture that God has for us. That’s where faith
comes to play. We have to believe!

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.
It is so sure and certain that a man could stake his
life on it a thousand times (Martin Luther)

In conclusion, I would like to urge us to really
contemplate any decisions we are about to make. Are we
making decisions just for our own sake, or God’s sake?
Don’t be afraid to make "unpopular decisions" if
that’s necessary, believe that He will perfect His
plan for us, because above all our life is His-Story
(yhs).

Unbeliever Advise: Finding God’s Will (2)

The role of unbeliever, people who don’t share our
Christian belief, has somewhat been deemed by some
Church’s pulpits.  I Cor. 15:33, "..Bad company
corrupts good character…", is undoubtedly a strong
support of how we have to be extremely careful with
whom we hang out with.  The Corinthian believers lived
among pagan worshipers, sexual immorality, and
super-arogant society. Paul knew that they had to
stand up and "be different people".  Indeed, in I Cor.
3:16, he urged them to be God’s Temple, alluding that
they should NOT be the same as the "other temples."
They have been bought by the Blood of Christ (I Cor
6:20), so it’s a necessary to be holy, separated from
the wicked.

Paul’s concern is absolutely important to be noted and
remembered.  However, this truth has been extended to
a degree that has ruined the purity of God’s word.
Extended application has notoriously been recognized
as the source of confusion.  In this case, I would
argue that Paul didn’t suggest that we COMPLETELY
ignore the role of unbelievers.  He merely said that
they should be aware of the danger and urged them NOT
to live like them.  Therefore, the same principle
applies to us.  We should be aware of the danger of
unbeliever influence and should not live like them.
But we’re not encouraged at any rate to ignore them.
In other words, I believe, biblically and
experientially, that our unbeliever friends, family,
co-workers, etc are also placed by God in our path, so
that they can shape our view of life (to certain
degree).  And since our view of life is the framework
of how we make godly decisions - finding God’s will, I
would suggest to start "listening" to unbelievers
around us.

This opinion, I realise, is not the easiest truth to
accept for some people.  But believe me, we can learn
a lot from them.  The most practical example that I
can give is the role of unbeliever parents.   While we
can’t live like them, and their advise could be
non-biblical, they are definetly placed by God to help
us grow.  Listening to their advise is a must.  And
don’t be afraid to learn from them.
From my own experience, I have found out that my
unbeliever friends can be a lot wiser than my godly
friends.  And usually after viewing their advise from
the Word of God, I realise that some of what they say
are also what God says.

In conclusion, if we believe "all truth is God’s
truth", consequently we also have to believe that all
good advise is from God regardless where it comes
from: believers or unbelievers (yhs)

21 February, 2001.  My mom passed away.  Salvatore Chisari , an Italian American, who is a father figure for me, said to me I will never say good by to your mom.  I will just say "Arriverdeci" (Sampai ketemu lagi, Till See You Again). 

Sampai Ketemu Lagi
By: The beloved son of Rossetti Ging, Hanny Setiawan

  Tiap langkah dalam hidupmu
  Nyata kasihNya
  Tiap hati yang kau layani
  Tahu artinya Cinta Kasih Bapa

  Walau waktumu t’lah berlalu
  Kekal c’ritamu
  Kepergianmu Mami
  Bukti kasihNya abadi

  Reff:
       Berat nian tuk melepaskan
       Pahlawan Iman
       Tapi Tuhan tahu jalan manusia
            Trima kasih tuk segalanya
            Mami tercinta
            Sampai ketemu lagi

  Literal Transalation:

  In every step of your life
  His love’s shinning
  Every heart that you serve
  Know the meaning of His love
     Even though your time was passed
     Your story is everlasting
     Your dead, Mom
     is the evidence of God’s love

  Reff:
      It’s hard to let go
      Such a faith warrior
      But God knows human ways
          Thank you for everyhing
          Beloved Mommy
          Till see you again (arrivederci mom) (yhs)

21 February 2001, My mom passed away.  I’d like to share the fact about her departure that I shared 5 years ago.  It strengthens my faith, and hope that will encourage you as well.

—————————————————————————————-
Dear Friends,

I’d like to abundantly thank you for all the support
through prayers, calls, emails, letters, and others
for me, Henry and my family so that we can pass one of
our hardest time biblically and joyfully.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.  Glad to know
that I have so many caring Friends that are ready to
help when I’m in need.  Especially, I’d like to say
thank you so much for:
- CPC (Christian Pentecosal Church), ICF
Boston(Indonesian Christian Fellowship), IFGF Boston
(Indonesian Full Gospel Fellowship), KMK Boston
(Keluarga Mahasiswa Katholik), and other fellowships
that have given me special encouragement. Thank you
especially for Pastor John, Pastor Zulfy, and Benjamin
Intan.
- My pals Sal & Tina, Glory, Ronald & Erlin, Nathan
and Hendi that have supported me more than I need.
Thank guys, you’re the best!
- All of you! :).  I’m sorry if I can’t reply your
emails, calls, and letters individually.  I only can
keep you all in my daily prayers, may you know God
more and more.

My mom’s death, even though it was very painful, it’s
been such a blessing for my family.  God’s shown us
that a death of a righteous has to be a blessing.

* Her Last Words
After shaking my brother’s hands and two of her
brother’s hand, hugging my dad, and holding the hands
of her two daughter in laws.  She "passed" away.
However, my oldest brother yelled, "mom…mom"
(mi…mami) and amazingly she got up again for the
last time, and said with her painless smile, "What’s
wrong with you?….I’m okay!" (Kowe iki ngopo…aku
iki ora opo-opo).  And then she went home to her real
home, the heaven.

* Her Last Wish
And until the last minute, her last wish was only she
wanted her brother to know Jesus Christ.  And now
through her death, my uncle started to know Him, it’s
still very early faith, but the seed has been planted.
  In fact, for the first time, he prayed to God for his
beloved sister, because he saw everytime somebody was
praying, my mom was peacefull.  And she was so happy
everytime she saw he prayed.

* My aunty’s vision.
A week before my mom passed away.  In Cirebon,
mile-miles away from Solo, my aunty was walking when
suddenly she felt her stomach was in pain and she saw
my mom wearing a wedding gown and a crown waving her
hand to her on the sky.  This happened during a day
time.  She kept this story in her heart and right away
she went to Solo to visit my mom.  And she told me the
story in person after my mom’s funeral.

After reading my mom’s testimony which she wrote
couple years ago, we found out that my aunty is the
person who brought my mom to church for the first
time. And then my mom brought the whole family to
Christ, and then my dad became a pastor and then the
church has brought hundreds of people become
believers.

I realise this story is very supernatural, but I
believe that the vision is from God.  That’s one of
the ways that God has used to encourage my family, my
church and friends that she left. Indeed, she’s in
better place.

In addition to other stories that are very encouraging
especially for me and my family, I’d like to encourage
all of you to take our faith seriously.  Christian
faith is not an empty faith.  It’s real!
Soon or later, believe it or not, we will face the
fact that we have to leave this world. What have we
done? And are we ready? And what will our last words
be?

Lastly, if you still have parents, children, family or
friends who don’t know Jesus Christ.  Out of love, I’d
like to to encourage you to let them know the good
news.  God is good! Don’t keep the news for ourselves,
they need Jesus.  They need to be saved.  And they
need us to introduce Jesus to them.  Please let them
know!

God bless you all,
Hanny Setiawan
—————————————————————————————-

Godly Advise: Finding God’s Will (1)

Advise is very influential in shaping our view of how
to make godly decisions - to find God’s will.
Unfortunately, not many of us are aware that not all
advise is biblical.  Ungodly advise is very
subjective.  To make thing worse, since usually we
‘listen’ to this type of advise from our ‘inner
circle’- people who are close to us -, we tend to
blindly accept their advise.  Ironically, if the
advisors are also ‘believers’, we tend to assume that
they are always right.  On the other hand, if they are
not in the same faith, their advise cannot be
trustworthy; they are always wrong. Is that the right
practice? How should we treat advise anyhow?

There is no doubt that we should listen to godly
people carefully.  They are placed by God in our life
to help us grow in faith.  Bible shows us many
examples such as Moses-Joshua, Elijah-Elisha,
Samuel-David, Paul-Timothy, and many others.  However,
the concern here is that sometimes because these godly
people "care" us so much that they sometimes become
subjective.  Let’s read what happened with Jesus &
Peter.

——————————————————-
Matthew 16:21-23:

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his
disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many
things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and
teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on
the third day be raised to life.

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!
You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in
mind the things of God, but the things of men."
——————————————————-

Peter’s advise to Jesus was out of love and care.  But
it’s wrong!!  God’s will for Christ is to die at
Calvary to redeem the world.  Peter didn’t know God’s
will for his teacher.  He should not have given such
advise.  This case happens a lot in modern world.  Our
godly friends sometimes become unwise in giving us
advise because they care about us. They become
subjective and emotional.  Let’s face the fact, which
one is easier to let somebody know that he (or she)
will not get what he desires or to let he knows that
God will fulfill his dream?  It is very hard to advise
a person to redirect his path to do the right thing,
especially if the right path is not the pleasant one.
It’s a lot easier to please somebody by giving him a
pleasing advise.  But again that’s wrong.  Godly
advise is able to help a person grow in faith so that
he can see clearer his purpose on life regardless of
his feeling and emotion. It’s NOT what we think is
right, but what God thinks is right.

Therefore, we should not blindly accept what our godly
friends suggest us to do.  We need to treat their
advises as second opinions and run them through the
truth.  In other words, advises from bro and sis in
Christ (even our spiritual leaders) are not the final
words, but The word of God is (yhs)

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By: Hanny Setiawan

After leaving home for 7 years, now I have been back for couple years.  And these last couple years are quite a journey indeed.  Tough is the right word to describe the challenge I face and the character I become.  Life has become financially challenging, emotionally demanding, and physically exhausting.  When God gave the revelation, and my pastor confirmed through his preaching some years back that only the Call will be able to sustain me, I knew that it would be tough. But I didn’t know that would be this tough.  No kidding!

But I can’t complain.  The toughness is very rewarding.  Through tears I sow, I have reaped boundless joy.  Every time God touches a life through mine, no word could describe how sweet it is.  At least, I know for sure I am here for a purpose.  I will not change this life with anything else.  This is mine given by God for His glory.  And this very life I have given it up for sacrifice. No complaint!

I haven’t reached the comfort zone yet.  But, I have seen the finish line.  He is there waiting with the trophy.  And the beauty of all of this is that He was there in my past, and in fact he is with me in every battle as well.  He is all over me.  This is all His.  And this strengthens my faith, hope, and love toward Him.  The struggle is the way to the beauty; the beautiful future He already has prepared for me.  No doubt!

Life continues.  Through times I watch God’s hand is restoring lives, reviving a community, and building an army.  An army aimed to turn this nation upside down.  It’s a vision not just a dream.  Vision becomes a mission.  Mission becomes a task.  Task is a work to do.  When I am in struggle, about to complain, and doubt is hovering, the work has called me to wake up.  Yes! I have the “unfinished business” to complete.  Complete the task, and finish the race. No comment! (yhs)