Precepts-Rule of Personal Conduct

I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. http://bible.com/59/psa119.93.esv

"precepts-a rule of personal conduct; a doctrine that is taught"
commandments
maxims
principles
teachings

When I was around 18 years old, [yup, long time ago] I was drawn to Aikido. Aikido is not a martial art, it is a self-defense art. It is all about defending yourself and not attacking. The Principles of Aikido evolves on the following principles:

True Victory is Victory Over Oneself
Principle of Oneness
Principle of Circular Motion
Range of Effectiveness
Principle of Ki
Keep One-Point
Controlled Relaxation
Settle Down
Let Your Ki Flow

I practiced Aikido for at least 5 years. In Cebu, Philippines [1988], we were the few pioneers of the art. At that time, there were few practitioners because the art is very boring at first and most beginners will quit on the first lesson. One of my classmate is now an instructor and running his own school. Personally, I really like the principles that Aikido taught me for years and even up to now, it somehow blended to my Christian principles.

When I gave my life to Christ, I had a dream and the message of the dream was so clear – "give up Aikido because I have more than Aikido for you". I could never understand the message at that time but when I look back now, I saw the actual meaning of the dream.

The founder of Aikido was not a Christian but was immersed in eastern religion of Buddhism. Maybe because the gospel had not reached his home town yet or maybe because of his tradition. I don’t have facts on this, but having studied Aikido and Christianity, I’ve found some similarities of the two principles that I practiced in life.

It was not easy to give up the things that you love to do specially when it was beneficial to your life. But I heard the message and I had to obey.

"give up Aikido because I have more than Aikido for you"

In the Bible, there are a lot principles that is hidden and if a person follows the principle, the outcome is guaranteed to be positive.

Some examples:
1. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul – that principle covers a wide aspect in our life. – we become a child of God and can be connected to his Knowledge, Wisdom and Power. Imagine the creativity that you can have with God. You sit down in your porch or coffee table and able to create ideas randomly or write something inspiring for the world to consume.

2. Love you neighbor as yourself – with this principle alone, we will have no enemies because "all" our neighbor are our friends [they hate you, you love them back]. So when you come to work today and you see the face of a coworker or a boss and you dislike that person so much that you hated even by just thinking that you are coming to work – it makes you angry. Principle #2 dissolves that anger because it says "love your neighbor as yourself" unless, you don’t love yourself… that is another post.

More principles here: http://blindcaveman.wordpress.com/tag/principle/