Stayed at home to study the whole day for my commercial law exam that is on tomorrow morning. Gotta pray for really good memory to remember all the laws and cases since this year's exam isn't open book like it normally is. Oh well, God always works His miracles so i'll leave it up to Him.
Quick devotion this morning was from 1 Corinthians 3:18-23.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; 20 and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. 23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
v18-20 are pretty self explanatory telling us that it's pointless being wise with all the knowledge of this world, and of men. God says that He catches the wise in their own craftiness and that the thoughts of the wise are futile. So i rather be not be wise in this world, but be wise in the ways of God.
I didn't quite get v21 when i first read it, coz the sentence just didn't seem to connect. But after reading it a few times i guess that what it was trying to say was that we shouldn't boast in the things of men, because in God, all things are ours? I'm not too sure, but thats what i think at least. Then in v22 weird examples like Paul, Apollos, Cepas, the world, or life and death are used. It didn't seem to connect, and i was pretty confused reading it, but in the everything is ours as long as we're in God, and thats all that matters.
Us -> Christ's -> God's!
i will bring praise, i will bring praise, no weapon formed against me shall remain, i will rejoice, i will declare, God is my victory and He is near
haha wow.. another crazy day at church.. had more new kids at children's church today so praise God! Worship was good, but at the same time so much more could be done to improve it, and i know we're getting there. Just realized that i haven't been for the adult worship service for a long time, really missing the Holy Spirit's presence there..But once i teach some of the other teachers how to do the screen, we're gonna start rotating!
Today i read Psalms 39:1-5.
1 I said, “I will guard my ways,
Lest I sin with my tongue;
I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
While the wicked are before me.”
2 I was mute with silence,
I held my peace even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.
3 My heart was hot within me;
While I was musing, the fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “LORD, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah
It's a short and simple passage which is just inspiring to read. I liked the first verse where King David says he will guard his ways, lest he sin's with his tongue. King David was a really wise man, and a lot of the stuff he says are really meaningful. I think this applies to all of us at all times of the day, we got to be mindful of what we do and what we speak. If just by speaking alone we can cause so much trouble, problems, and sin..what more about our actions, since actions speak louder than words. We have to be on our guard at all times, against the enemy and especially against ourselves..i would say that i am one of my biggest enemy and weakness. Before i sidetrack, just wanna emphasis how easily it easy to sin with our tongues. There are many ways like lying, gossiping, spreading rumors, putting others down, swearing/cursing, and lots lots more.. Even when telling jokes, and we take it too far, and accidentally exaggerate a bit, or in the process of the joke put someone down..im pretty sure that can be counted as a sin too! So be careful little tongue what you speak.
Then in v4 King David prayed that God will make him to know his end, the measure of his days, and how frail he is. I thought that it was a pretty good thing to pray about, i would also want to pray that God will show us how frail our lives are, and the measure of our days. Every day when we wake up is another gift from God that we're still breathing and alive. Life is so frail that anything can happen and we can never tell when our time's gonna be up. It could whenever! Are we just taking God as a fire insurance, against the lake of fire? We gotta be thankful to God for every single opportunity that He's given us, and not take for granted what we've been given. Life is full of unexpected things, but one thing we know for sure that will never change is God. May we be urgent and busy about our Father's buisness.
And you never change, God you remain, the Holy one of your unfailing love, unfailing love...
Saturday, June 28, 2008
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Yay i'm half way pass my first semester exams for my first year..hoho uni is gonna be looong.. Well gotta thank God for helping me in my exam today, it was much better than what i had originally expected it to be and surprisingly before my exam this morning i wasn't really worried about it and i could just feel the peace of God as i sat for my exam. Didn't have a blood nose like the previous exam, but had a blocked nose which was pretty irritating..couldn't get any oxygen to my brain half the time hahas, but God just placed like knowledge in me and whenever i came to a question which i wasn't too sure of, i would just write whatever's on my mind and i'd end up with a pretty decent answer which sounded right.. It's all God. Ok now for 2 more exams to go, gonna need God's help all the way! What will i be and what can i do without God!
Humility: Total and utter dependence on God?
Anyway today for devotion i read 2 Cor 5:9-11.
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
Great passage but i especially like v9. It should be a memory verse since its such a simple verse to understand, and yet with such great meaning. 'Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.' We all understand and all want to be pleasing to God, but for me personally, i always try to make an extra effort to be pleasing when i think of God, doing my devotions, or at church. Then i read the verse and what struck me was that we gotta make our aim to be well pleasing to Him, whether present or absent! The word absent just spoke to me. Many times when i'm more 'present'-minded, i always try my best to be pleasing to God, but during other times of the day, my mind always ends up drifting away and i become 'absent-'minded..Especially during these last few weeks, i would count being absent-minded as anything that is not God related, i have been focused studies so much that most of the time God get's pushed away to the back of my mind. I would really admire and want to learn from anyone who can actually be present-minded the whole day, and keep their focus on God 100% all the time. Our aim is to be pleasing to God at all times of the day, whether present or absent.
Ok time to catch on sleep..been having 5-6hr sleeps during the past week..not good for my body
Jesus you, gave what the world couldn't offer us.. we are free. .woah...
tonight's yaf worship was great! I could just come and relax in the presence and glory of God..it's like being in your own little realm where there's no one else besides you and God..As we were worshipping, all my cares and worries and concerns were handed all to God, and i knew that God would take care of it like He always does.
A verse that i heard today which was from aaron, which was given to him from someone was Phillipians 4:13. It was a really basic verse, but hearing it again really meant so much more this time.
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
And especially when we were singing Faith during worship, the last line went something 'I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me!!~'. That reminded me once more that i can do literally ALL things THROUGH Christ, not by my might or by my will, but only through Christ who strengthens me. Amen! So my exams and everything i do from now on will be done through Christ, haha hope i never lose sight of my goal/finish line.
Anyway for devotion today, i flipped open my Bible and came to this passage again. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
1 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.It's pretty amazing if you read it a few times over..makes so much sense..All i can say is that may we be in right season that God has placed us in all the time! e.g don't be in a season of mourning when its meant to be a season of thanksgiving. Know God's time.
You are stronger, you are stronger, sin is broken you have saved me..it is written, you have risen, Jesus you are Lord of all
Thursday, June 26, 2008
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Oooohhh man... exams are killing me.. ever since exams started i've had no life at all.. the only things i've been doing is study, study, and more study..i wake up at 8-9am do devotions for a while then head off to the library to study. All the way till 7-8pm before the library closes then head home to want to do more studies, but whenever i get home i'm always too tired to even think of studying and i end up wasting an hour or two doing pointless stuff then getting frustrated at myself at the end of it for wasting precious time. Do more studies then head off to bed at 12-1am, praying for a good night's sleep so that when i wake up the next day i won't be too tired to study. That's pretty much been my life for the past two weeks, and the worse thing is that time is getting shorter and shorter, and the exams seem to get harder and harder till the point that all i want to do is just to be able to pass this semester and thank God for it. Blehh..3 more exams to go, Sat, Tues, and Thurs all morning papers..i should be alright for the saturday paper, and if i study really hard on saturday arvo/night and monday, i should be able to pass my tuesday paper..but then my thursday paper..right now im at 0%..tried studying for it soo many times before, but it seems that everytime after studying, i don't seem to remember a single thing that i read. I've pretty much got one and a half days to understand the whole macroeconomics concept, tues and weds(which currently makes 0 sense to me at all..why am i even in commerce..), and it's also partly my fault since i should be doing microeconomics before doing macroeconomics, and since i didn't know anything about it when i was selecting my courses, im practically learning how to run before even knowing how to crawl in one and a half days!! How exciting! Me passing this semester itself is going to be a miracle that i can't wait for it to happen!
Not to mention that my spiritual life isn't exactly 100% too, there's also things where i gotta improve on and gotta change. And with the whole transitioning into g12 with the whole spiritual father thing is which isn't getting any easier, and a whole lot of other problems that im constantly praying for.. Now especially with the upcoming revival that no one wants to miss out on, we gotta get more involved with God's buisness and turn from participators into load carriers, and with people saying things everywhere isn't lightening the load but seems to make it heavier..arggh i just need more of God in my life..
With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm, as we go sailing home..great song, but really hard to live..
Anyway gotta do more studies after this so gotta be quick with this. Devotion this morning was from 1 Cor 7:20-24.
20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. 22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.
hmmm i read this when i just woke up so i don't know what i was thinking then..but reading it again, it makes me realise that i've become sort of like a 'slave' to men/world. Being so caught up in my studies, which is indeed important, and many times forgetting that God can help us in our exams too..but God won't help us if we don't study for our exams and put our effort into it, and we gotta live a life of excellence, doing well in everything we do and giving it our 100%. Like my mum used to tell me, we're not glorifying if we're always doing badly at uni or failing..My aim is to glorify God in all that i do, but its definitely not easy..So if i want God to help me in my exams, i gotta give my 100% to studies, but at the same time i also have to give God my 100% too because without God I'm nothing..but if i add it up it equates to 200%!!! haha i really need to depend on God for the other 100% on top of my own 100%..once these two weeks are over, its gonna be hillsong all the way!!+ more free time to play drums/learn guitar, and building myself up in God. But i really need to lift the next week into God's hands, with my exam on saturday a course with a fail rate of 70% from past years..Its time for God to shine!
God of all days, Glorious in all of Your ways, the majesty the wonder and grace, in light of Your name..
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
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devotions for today was from Colossians 2:6-10.
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
yup its a pretty self explanatory passage, don't think there's any hidden message in these few verses, but as always its really meaningful and powerful since its from the Bible! Just a few reminders maybe, we are to walk in Christ Jesus since we have already received Him.(thank God for that) we have been rooted and established in the faith as we've been taught (definitely from the Bible and from pastors from our church), abounding in it with thanksgiving!! Really important that we are always in a state of thanksgiving..definition of abounding from the dictionary is: 'existing in abundance', and abundance can be defined as 'an amount that is more than required'. Why are we abounding in thanksgiving? Because God has already blessed us and given us so much more than we have ever required! There's a million and one things that we are thankful to God for, and may we not take things that God has blessed us with for granted :). We have also been warned to beware in case anyone cheats us according to the tradition(normal ways) of men, and according to the basic principles of the world. Interesting thing is that we have been warned against not just any principles of the world, but the basic principles! I would have thought that if we have been rooted and built up in Jesus, we wouldn't be swayed so easily..but then again even the basic principles of the world can cheat us and deceive us, i don't think it should be looked upon lightly.
Then in v9-10 it talks about Jesus' fullness, and us being complete in Him, who is the head of ALL principality and power. Amen! Being complete in Him, means to be be made whole and made perfect. And you can't get any better than perfect! So i would anytime choose the complete and full life, over the empty and meaningless life. Not to mention that He is the head of all principality and power (e.g demons of all kinds and ranks)!
You are the maker of heaven, you turned my world around, your making all things new again, through it all i know, you are God of all
devotion for today was from Haggai 2:20-23. Managed to do it when i woke up so i was pretty happy.
20 And again the word of the LORD came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying:
‘ I will shake heaven and earth.
22 I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms;
I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms.
I will overthrow the chariots
And those who ride in them;
The horses and their riders shall come down,
Every one by the sword of his brother.
23 ‘In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says the LORD, ‘and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
So the moment i flipped open my Bible, i landed on this page and my eyes just moved and read this passage. Anyway i after reading this passage, i didn't quite understand what God was trying to tell me. But one thing that sorta hit was the word 'shaken', because i've been hearing this word quite a lot lately from different people, and maybe this is where they got it from too? or are there other parts of the Bible which states God shaking heaven and earth.. Usually the only thing that can shake the earth is an earthquake, which is really powerful and most of the time cause deaths. But for God to shake not only earth but heaven at the same time, is that a show of His great power and might? Why shake the heavens too though? unless He meant shaking the heavenly realm.. Then in v22, it talks about God overthrowing and destroying kingdoms, people dying, and people getting killed. I'm pretty sure that the verse meant something deeper than what it just says, but its still something like judgement which is scary nonetheless.
Then in v23 the Lord calls himself the 'Lord of hosts', which im not too sure what that means..what did host mean back then? i always think of hosts as in like you have guests over at your place, and since it's your house your the host kinda thing.. But Lord of hosts? Then God calls Zerubbabel the governor of Judah, His servant, and tells him that He will make him like a signet ring, for the Lord of hosts has chosen him. Well, its not everyday or common to read in the Bible when God makes someone his signet ring(which means sealed ring i think), and is called by God as a chosen one. Zerubbabel must have done some special things, hmmm would be great if i could be someone special like that too..
God of all days, Glorious in all of Your ways, Oh the majesty the wonder and grace, In the light of Your Name
another long day of studies non-stop.. so much reading that my eyes are killing me..bleh..Oh well, that's what students do anyway..so i just have to do it the best of my abilities!
This morning i read about gatekeepers of the old covenant in the old testament, which was pretty cool.. but i wanna just quickly share about something aaron gave me to hear while we were at his place studying tonight. He let me listen to one of the cd's he got from his old church back in kuching the last time he went back. The church back there was really on fire and just by listening to the recording itself is pretty amazing..the worship went on for ages(i think 2-3hrs?) Then they had a guest speaker Ps Franky i think to preach. He preached on Matthew 9:16-17, and he focused on the new wineskin.
16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
From what i hear, the church back in kuching(EBC - Emmanuel Baptist Church) had a revival not long ago and its still continuing. So anyway, this pastor was saying that revival was gonna come to the church since the cd was from 2005/06, and that before revival comes they had to get rid of their old wineskin, and have a new wineskin. New wineskin is power, its represents new anointing and new power, it also represents a new mentality, a renewed way of thinking. We need to let go of the old and put on the new, in order for God to fill us up with fresh stuff.
After that he went on to teach 3 points on how we are to change the old wineskin into the new wineskin.
- Get rid of old negative mindsets
- Start to make room in our thinking
- Develop a healthy self image about ourselves
He briefly talked about each one of the points since the sermon wasn't really long, and the service had already gone on for 3hrs..But basically he said that we need to change our mindsets first because our thoughts precedes our actions, and sometimes our mindsets are strongholds, so we need to get a new mindset. We need to start making room for God in our thinking and start dreaming BIG for God! (Big heart, Big vision) He said something which i found interesting, 'God will not be offended if we ask big things from Him, but He will be offended if we don't'. We are to increase our level of expectancy from God, because we will receive what we expect. If we expect little, we receive little, if we expect failure, we receive failure, but if we expect great things, we will receive great things! And lastly, we need to develop a healthy self image about ourselves because we are what we think we are. In God we are more than conquerers! He talked a bit about the 'grasshopper mentality' which was when the twelve spies went to check out the land of Canaan, and ten of them came back with negative reports. We mustn't curse ourselves by what we say and we need to recognize our self worth in God.
I'm pretty sure lots of other stuff were said too, but im tired and its late, so i'll just stop here..
With everything with everything we will shout forth Your glory, With everything with everything we will shout forth Your praise..
*yawns* another long and tiring day, but it was great fun! Didn't get any sleep at all last night, because i was getting weird dreams after dreams after dreams..like a never ending supply of dreams..but i don't think they were from God, since i couldn't remember any of them the moment i woke up. Tonight at the worship/prayer session i found it really good, i personally had like a casual friendly 'chat' with God, which i never had before. Whenever i talk with Him its always through prayer, but this time it started off more like "Hi God." Then from there it was a chat between two buddies/friends sort of thing. Then God pointed out 2 Chronicles 7:14 to me(which anne later on read out as well), and He highlighted "and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven.." to me. God then went on and pointed out some of the 'wicked ways' that were still in my life or other sins that i still haven't completely gotten rid off eg. laziness, fears, and other stuff.. But i felt so refreshed and renewed after chatting with God, its like i received strength and confidence for the following week and for my upcoming exams! Praise God!
Okk, didn't manage to do morning devotion today, which was bad :( woke up at 9.10 and had to go to church early to prepare Children's church slides..but i'll definitely do it tomorrow. So anyway i read Romans 5:6-11.
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Good old passage on Christ dying for us ungodly sinners, on how His love for us was so great that He went through all that pain and suffering just so that we could have life. Hmm still remember the time where i had a mini revelation about Jesus' love for us, and how He even gave his life on that cross, that really hurt me..but thinking about how it only was just a mini revelation, and i still haven't gotten the full picture yet, really awestruck at just how deep the Father's love for us really is. Many times, we are told to visualize and imagine ourselves at the foot of the cross, i didn't use to get the point of that, but after the revelation, i think of all the love Jesus had for us and all the pain he must have gone through just for us. Really hurts to see so many of us still hurt the Father whenever we go against Him and sin, to think that He's done so much for us, yet we're still so ungrateful.. Anyway its great to know that we've been justified by the blood of Jesus, and that we are also reconciled to God through Jesus' death, His Son. What more can we ask? There's no greater blessing then having life in God, with God.
In you awesome glory, in your awesome power, that is where i want to be, on my knees to worship you..
Saturday, June 21, 2008
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w00t finished my first uni exam today, and found it pretty good. but this is the easiest out of my 4, so i'm gonna be really struggling on the next 3 exams, gonna really be by God's grace if i pass all my subjects and do well in them..
Ok for devotion today, can't remember what i did in the morning, actually can't really rermember anything that i learnt today for the exam too..but at night i read 1 Timothy 1:12-17.
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
hmm tired, but i'll just share a bit from what i learned from this passage.. We have been counted faithful by God, that is why we've been put into the ministry. Being counted faithful by God, that sounds really awesome, i don't think everyone can be counted as faithful to God. Whenever i think of the word faithful, the parable of the talents always comes into my mind, where the phrase ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ How good will it be when on the last day when the master returns, and says that to us when he sees us.
Then after reading v13, it sort of reminded me of myself when i was younger, being a christian in name, but not actually a proper Christian. I had done so much horrible sin, but God has been merciful to me, he has forgiven me time and time again, and given me chance after chance to turn back, the amount of grace and love He's poured into me is just amazing.. I was ignorant, used to think that ignorance is bliss, but that's not the case..do you think ignorant people will be able to enter into the kingdom of God?
And v15 is just an amazing verse that shows so much humility and brokeness. It's one of those memory verses where you just have to memorize it. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Being a sinner is nothing to be proud of, and not many people can lower themselves and call themselves the chief of sinners to others, especially when your a church leader, it really deserves respect.
Then in v16 it talks about longsuffering, and that it's gonna be a pattern for those who believe in Him for eternal life. Longsuffering is a pattern. Life as a Christian is tough, but being a non-Christian is tougher. Though there will be sufferings and storms in our life, the one who calms the raging seas will help us calm any storms that we will face in our life.
Lastly in v17, to the King who is eternal, who will last for all eternity, immortal, who will never die, and invisible, who is not visible and can't be seen by the naked eye. To God alone, alone who is wise be honor and glory forever and ever. How awesome is that!!
Jesus, Jesus, name above all names.. Jesus, Jesus, name above all names..
Yaf worship tonight was good. Well least i found the last two songs really good. Didn't feel that one way went like it was meant to be..maybe because it was abit slower than normal(my fault i think), not sure just felt weird playing the song.. But i'm glad many people liked worship, or at least that's what im hearing. Been so tired lately, with all the exam prep coming up, and the church revival..i need to get myself more organized, if not i'll get caught up doing other things..
Anyway just quickly writing down devotion before heading off to bed for my exam tomorrow.. I read Psalms 90:1-2
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Just felt really encouraged when u read these two verses. That God has been our dwelling place, is our dwelling place, and always will be our dwelling place throughout the generations. There's no better place to be, than where God is. And the last line of v2, 'from everlasting to everlasting you are God'. Amen! God's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore! He's been a good God, is a good God, and always will be a good God. Everything that we read in the Bible can still be applied in our daily lives now 2000 years later, because it's all the same God! Everlasting to everlasting, He IS God!! We can afford to place our trust in Him, because if can;t trust God, who else can we trust.
God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.
You lived, you died, you rose again on high, you opened the way for the world to live again...
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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'ROAR!!' x 1000 is meant to be the sound of the lion that's roaring within me..got a word from anne at the prayer session tonight and its some about the lion of the tribe of Judah, and about a lion thats trapped within with no room to breathe. Then got a word from mary, which was pretty long as well, and i think it was about my age, and me not belittling myself because im young. Stig, spoke boldness into my life.. and lots of other things as well.. soo many things happened tonight and my brain is still in a mess so i'll just sleep over it.
Anyway just wanna highlight a verse that i read today. Jeremiah 31:21
21 "Set up road signs;
put up guideposts.
Take note of the highway,
the road that you take.
Return, O Virgin Israel,
return to your towns.
When i read it i found it pretty similar to our Isiah 62:10. Most probably because it had the word highway in it as well, and i rarely see the word highway appear in the Bible. We have been told to set up road signs and put up guideposts, the whole point of signs and guideposts is to give direction to people. Be it lost, or on their way, it is to show people direction to where they are heading to, or where they want to go. In our case is to point people in the direction of Jesus Christ, which in him is life. The third line in the NKJV version says 'Set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went'. I feel that it has more depth by saying setting your heart towards something, compared to just taking note of it. We are to put out focus back on the highway, set our heart towards it, which was the way we went. It was referring to people who had backsliden, which was said in the following verse.
Another exciting of study..went to the library with aaron and i'm pretty amazed at how much work i actually managed to get done. Always thought that i couldn't study in libraries, but now i know that i can. Had to study heaps because i don't have much time left till my exam, and with all the prayer sessions we're having at night, i'll have to study doubly hard just to make sure i finish all my studies before i go to the prayer sessions. Had another great time of worship/prayer tonight at anne and stig's place, its my way of rewarding myself for studying hard the whole day. So hopefully tomorrow i'll get even more work done, so that i can go attend the prayer session tomorrow night! Don't really have much time left since there's yaf on friday night too, and since i'm drumming i'll have to practice the songs that's gonna be sung on top of my studies for my exam on Sat afternoon.. Aargh! seems like so little time, but i'll put God first, do my best, and let God do the rest! Waiting to testify when the results come up about how God so miraculous helped me through my exams!
Ok for devotion today, i read Romans 16:17-20.
17I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. 19Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. 20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Just want to point out a few things that spoke to me, or learnt. v17 we are urged, its like very strongly recommended, to look out or notice people who cause division and offenses which are contrary to the teachings that we have been learned. And after noticing them, we have been told to keep away from them, or in my other version it says to avoid them. Which means that we don't hang around them but instead stay away and keep away from them. v18, because they deceive naive people, or the in other version it says 'the hearts of simple'. So we got to be wise and discerning, not naive and simple, in case we get deceived by the devil. We also have to build ourselves up in the word of God, and learn it by heart, so if anyone says anything thats contrary to the word, we can pick it out immediately and won't get deceived.
Last part of v19, we are told to be wise about what's good and innocent about what is evil. In the NKJV version, it says to be wise in whats good, and simple concerning evil. My interpretation of that would be that we should be wise and discerning about what is 'good', like whats 'good' to man is not normally good to God, and whats 'good' to God most of the time is not what man call 'good'. We are then told to be 'simple' concerning evil. My thoughts on that would be that what we call evil should be really plain and simple to understand. Like anything that displeases God is evil, e.g sin is evil, anything that pleases the flesh over the spirit is evil, anything of the devil is evil. Like a very clear simple line is drawn that separates good and evil, so we'll have no doubt in recognizing what is evil and what isn't.
Then in v20, an awesome verse. "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." Yay God! One thing i'm not too sure is when it's said that satan will soon be crushed under our feet. It's the 'will soon' part thats bothering me, i always thought that satan was already crushed under our feet when Jesus died on the cross, went down to hell and overcame death. Wasn't that our victory when we came under Christ? And wasn't the book of Romans written after the death of Jesus? So shouldn't we have already crushed satan under our feet? hmmm unless im missing something out which im not too sure about..
Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city...
hrmm spent another whole day stuck in my room studying..Anyway was talking to my youngest brother on msn today, and he watched kungfu panda today and said it was 'AWESOME!!@$@%@*&' and i thought to myself, if only he was that excited about God, who is a million times better than any movie, because God is real. Just thinking back about the things that God is doing in my family back in singapore, can't help but be amazed. Ever since my parents moved church, i think things have been getting better. My grandma is a fully devoted Christian now, always praying and reading the Bible, constantly giving testimonies thanking God how he has helped her so many times. She says that she feels really uncomfortable if she doesn't read the Bible for one day, and is always asking me for things that she can pray for. It's really amazing and a total transformation..she used to be a really typical chinese who would believe in all sorts of chinese superstitions and traditions, occasionally going to temples for advice. But now, all she does is to talk about God, and really believes that whatever she prays for, God will answer. Something that i never would have expected to have happened.. Another thing that just happened recently was that my other younger brother apparently came back from a church camp somewhere in Malaysia and is all 'holy' now. From what my parents told me, its like he learnt about how short life is, and how Christ is coming back again. Francis will be going for a camp tomorrow, i think a church camp, and i pray that he will catch the fire from that camp and really come back a changed person. God is doing great things in my family, and its really good to know that they're growing spiritually.
Ok for devotion today i read from Isiah 13:4-9.(Isiah seems like a hot book lately..)
4 Listen, a noise on the mountains,
like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations massing together!
The LORD Almighty is mustering
an army for war. 5 They come from faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens—
the LORD and the weapons of his wrath—
to destroy the whole country. 6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty. 7 Because of this, all hands will go limp,
every man's heart will melt. 8 Terror will seize them,
pain and anguish will grip them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame. 9 See, the day of the LORD is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it. I love verse 4, the Lord is mustering an army for war, and they are like a great multitude! I want to be part of that army, part of that great multitude that God is mustering up. Or at least i already am part of the army, just hope that i will never fall away from this army. An uproar among the nations, the nations massing together, how amazing would that sound like..just imagining it is pretty cool haha..then after that it goes on saying how God is gonna be coming with His wrath and destruction, destroying whole countries..thank God it won't be me coz i'll be part of that marching army. And in v7, hand's will go limp, and every man's heart will melt because they won't be able to do anything but to stand in absolute shock, fear, and terror of God. God's awesomeness will just paralyze them, and they'll just stand there, in awe of God's greatness!
v8 would be pretty interesting to see..actually not really..it'll be a pretty bad sight..terror seizing them, pain and anguish gripping them, and man writhing like a woman in labour. I think if i actually saw that, i would feel very sad and sorry for them..worse if it was one of my family/friends, it would make me feel very very guilty. Not too sure about the last part of v8 though, 'They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.' Hmm i had always thought that if our faces were aflame, or like flames, its a good thing. Like it was radiating like or like God's glory or something. So why is it written after all the terrors of man? unless it's meant to be a bad thing too.
And in v9, pretty self explanatory.. The Lord is coming with his wrath and fierce anger, making the land desolate, and destroying the sinners within it. This once again tells us the proves the fact that sin=death, no sin=no death=life. But since we've all been born into a sinful nature, we're all sinners by default. But then Jesus came and gave us what the law could not give, salvation and eternal life through Him, and Him alone! That by His death on the cross we may be set free, and once again be brought to live with our Father in heaven. So we gotta hold on Jesus tightly, never letting go, and running the race till we reach the prize!
Never looking back we'll run the race, giving You our lives we'll gain the prize..
Spent the whole day in front of the computer studying economics which i still don't understand at all..Sat in front of the computer for 7hrs till my eyes started to hurt, so i decided to play badminton which wasn't the wisest decision..I thought that since they're exams next week, they'll be fewer people there, but i was wrong..in fact there were so many more people tonight that i only managed to play 3 games, oh well i still needed the exercise.. Hopefully my studies tomorrow will be much more effective and that i'll absorb stuff at a much faster rate.. Gotta pray for God to aid me in my studies, and that He'll give me wisdom and understanding to digest everything that i learn.
Just quickly, devotion from today was from Jude 1:20-25.
20But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
24To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. I did morning devotion, so i read it in the morning right after i woke up. After reading it i felt so refreshed and like my spiritual battery was recharged! Especially v24-25 which were just verses that exalted God, felt really good reading them.
Just wanna highlight a few things that i thought were pretty important in these verses. v20, we are meant to build ourselves up in the most holy faith, not any kind of faith, but the most holy faith. Which is faith in God. Next part, to pray in the Holy Spirit, which im pretty sure means praying in tongues..so if anyone asks us why we pray in tongues, its because the Bible tells us to.
v21, we are to keep ourselves in God's love, which can be found when we're under God's cover and protection. So we're meant to be in God's love the whole time as we wait for mercy of Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life. So as we are living on this earth, everyday we are waiting for the mercy of Jesus to bring us to eternal life, and as we are living daily, we are to keep ourselves in God's love.(which is amazing!)
v22, we are to show mercy to those who are in doubt, in the NKJV version it says to show compassion to them. Those in doubt would be classified as unbelievers? So we are to show them mercy and compassion, even though at times they may persecute us.
v23, i found it really heart piercing, snatch others from the fire and save them! Wow, just reading those words i could sense an urgency, and the severity.. It is yet another call for us to save the lost! Ps Chris gave an example that everybody who doesn't believe in Jesus are like those who are blindfolded and chained in the hands and legs, and are lead down into the depths of hell. We who have been saved, are meant to save them by pulling them away from the grips of the devil, and from the fiery burning hell into God's glorious light, where they are meant to be. So we are to snatch others violently! snatching isn't a peaceful process or a kind thing to do, its rough and violent. This is because we are at war with the devils in the spiritual realm, and the only way to save them is by force. The rest of the verse in NKJV version it says to save them with fear, hating even the garment that is defiled by the flesh. Always thought that we're not meant to hate and be full of love, coz God is love. But then learnt the whole thing about Holy anger, and i think it can be applied to in this case. We are to hate the sin so much, that we even have to hate and despise the garment that gets defiled by it. Sounds pretty serious to me, when even the clothing that they wear have to be hated... And others, we have to save with fear, fear of them ending up in the pits of hell and burning there in extreme torture and torment for the rest of eternity..Especially for our friends and family who we love, if we really love them we would want to best for them, and not for them to end up suffering excruciating pain for the rest of eternity..
Life is not a game, we have to take it seriously. We are at war.
Im in a fight not physical, im in a war, but not with this world...
Today was just another simply awesome day! Sunday's are the Lord's days so their also the best day of the week! Sooo many new things are just happening all at one go, and its all happening so fast too! For starters, children's church worship today was simply extraordinary! We're having so many improvements and changes being made..we're now using powerpoint for our worship in the chapel instead of the old cardboards, we have also upgraded our worship by adding more teachers to it so that it changes the atmosphere and the level of worship. And because the teachers are worshipping, when the kids see so many teachers worshpping they follow us and start singing as well. Really encouraging to see all the kids all like pumped up and fully into the whole worship, sso praise God!
Then after morning service we had a ministry time, where people could go up for prayer or just continue to pray where they are. I just stayed where i was to pray, didn't really feel any strong desire or need to get prayed for. As i was praying, i felt God really moving in the sanctuary and i think i got a vision, which was something like angels above us with palm leaves in their hands and just waving them, as though they were welcoming Jesus like when Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem. Anyway, the prayer time seemed to haven gone on for quite a while but didn't seem like it..and i know that aaron also had another vision, which was really cool..
Then right at the end of the day we had our weekly Sunday night meetings, and this time without a doubt it was awesome again! Actually i think its getting better and better each time we meet up! Hehe much more people turned up tonight, usually theres only 4 -5 of us i think.. but tonight we had 10 people, and everyone was really worshipping as one! Wow the presence of God was so amazing..singing all the older songs that were so Spirit filled really helps us to draw closer into God's presence..Songs are just such a powerful way of expressing ourselves, there are many songs that sound nice, but there aren't as many songs that actually really powerful, where everyone single word pierces your heart. It in those songs that you really feel the touch from God..
I could go on forever, but i'll just write down what i did for devotion today quickly before my internet dies again... I read Habakkuk 2:2-4
2 Then the LORD replied:
"Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 "See, he is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous will live by his faith
Well these are the verses that pretty much tell that why we should write all our visions and word's from God. I used to wonder why after everytime i get a vision or a word from God, people always tell me to write them down. I always thought it was because i would forget them, so i should just write it down. But then i think i read these verses from somewhere a while back, and realized the true reason for writing these stuff down. It is because it's said so in the Bible, and God also gives us a reason why..so that we may run with it and not get distracted or discouraged. It is also because whatever God says he will do, He will do it. God is not a liar, so we are to wait for the appropriate time for when the word comes to pass. Then since we have written it down, we can double check and then give God all the glory. And to see the vision or the word come to pass, no matter how crazy or impossible it seems, we will just have to live by faith, as written in v4, 'but the righteous will live by faith'. So we have to write it down, run with vision/word/revelation, and live by faith, trusting in God that it will come to pass at the appointed time.
I don't care what people will say, i'm running after you, don't matter what may come my way, i'm running after you...
Saturday, June 14, 2008
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Wow at worshipnet today! Listened to some awesome sermon from an Egyptian pastor then had an even more awesome time of prayer after that!! It was a really good sermon that talked was about revival, and how it was gonna happen here in Australia. One thing that i really learnt was that we are to have this Holy Anger. This Holy anger against the demons and devils, eg when Jesus went into the temple and chased all the people selling stuff out. Jesus was angry at them, angry at the fact that they made the Holy temple of God a market place. Similarly we are to have this same anger towards the devils and demons, Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago to set us free, so therefore the devil has no grip over our life and they are illegal. We are to have this burning desire to save the lost and see them come home to the Father, to release them from the grips of the evil one and bring into God's glorious light..We are to shut, close, and seal every door that is open to the devil, denying him of any entrance into our lives and into the lives of those around us.
At the end of the sermon we broke up into groups of three and prayed for God's revival fire to come upon us, NLCC, here in Maylands, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia(The great south land of the Holy Spirit). I felt that especially after listening to the sermon, everyone from the worshipnet was pumped up and re-fired up and the prayer just went off like an explosion! I could hear people screaming and shouting, praying at the top of their lungs to God for Him to send his revival fire's to us. Aaah was just a great time of prayer for the whole worshipnet, feel that the worshipnet is slowly growing together, not as individuals, but as a whole net.
Anyway, for devotion today just flipping through my Bible and ended up reading Hosea 14. Two verses spoke to me, v4 and v9.
4"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him."
9Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them, for the ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.
hmmm ok...verse 4 was pretty encouraging when i read it, He will heal the backsliding and love them freely, wow.. pretty awesome..God's love is so amazing, everytime i try to think about it, all i see is God who is just made up of nothing but a whole lump of love.i get this feeling inside of me that can't be explained with just words, its like a mixture of awe, and amazement.. It's like whenever we hurt God and stab him, all He oozes out is just more love for us, and thats so amazing..
v9, we gotta be wise and prudent! or least i want to be, since the Bible says so. The ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them! I want to be right in God's eyes, and i want to seen as righteous before God, so i'm gonna walk in His ways, never gonna stumble!
That we might be, the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord...
Not sure how the worship at Yaf tonight went, but personally i found it different, in a better way..i felt playing the drums so much more easier and relaxing and actually found it fun while playing songs!(might be because there were no fast songs, and they were all really easy to play) Not sure how the congregation felt, but i felt such a strong sense of freedom and liberty as we were worshipping, not being afraid of what others think, and just singing along with my drums and flowing in the Holy Spirit. It's also really encouraging when i look up or open my eyes and see so many people in the congregation just lifting up their hands and just watching them flow in the Spirit, and worshipping God so freely..it brings this sense of joy deep down in my heart. Hopefully the future Yaf worship will just keep on getting better and better, where everyone who comes will get a touch from God as we worship.
Anyway getting on to devotion, for today i read Ezekiel 13:1-9 which is about people who prophesy falsely..
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: 'Hear the word of the LORD! 3 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! 4 Your prophets, O Israel, are like jackals among ruins. 5 You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the LORD. 6 Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. They say, "The LORD declares," when the LORD has not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled. 7 Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, "The LORD declares," though I have not spoken? 8 " 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign LORD. 9 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.
After reading this i got a bit worried, how on one end i want to see visions, and want to claim by faith the visions that God has given me. However on the other hand i don't want to one those people prophesy according to my own spirit and just prophesy for the sake of looking good in front of others..Well at least i don't think thats my problem, my problem would be after having a vision, not being sure if it's from God or from myself..and even after believing by faith that it's from God, i wouldn't dare to say it. But i learnt that there are people who would have visions that are not from God, but from their own spirit..and because of that we always got to be careful of what different people say to us. If it's the pastor's we can trust them, but we have to be careful of random people who just come up to us and say they had a vision for us. We always have to wait for God's confirmation first before acting upon that vision.
I sometimes find it hard to really differentiate between a vision that God gave me, compared to a vision that came into my mind that wasn't from God, but from myself instead. Sometimes whenever i try to keep a blank mind and empty everything that i'm thinking out, i get the reverse effect and more images start pouring into my head..but then there are times where this totally random picture that i've never seen before comes into my head for no apparent reason at all, then i'm pretty sure that thats from God.
That's why i pray that i become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit, that my spiritual eyes and ears be open to the Holy Spirit, and that i may become more discerning. I want to be so in tune with the Holy Spirit that i'll be able to feel every slight change in the spiritual atmosphere, and that i'll just be walking in the spirit totally.
Just gonna jump straight into devotion today. I read John 14. But i want to point out v28-31.
28"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
"Come now; let us leave.
Hmmmm actually what really spoke to me was the last few words of v31. Since i was reading a NKJV version its a bit different.
31"But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so i do. Arise, let us go from here."
Two things that really spoke to me. 'As the Father gave Me commandment, so i do'. Wow, Jesus made obedience sound so easy..i wish it was that easy for me at times..Jesus was 100% human, and was also 100% obedient to God. Whatever the Father told him to do, He did. He never doubted God, or questioned the motive or reasons behind it. Jesus just did it. For me i find it hard being 100% obedient to what God tells me to do, since partial obedience and delayed obedience is disobedience. When God tells me to do something, i also feel uneasy, since its always something weird or not normal... Then i always end up doing it halfheartedly or just waiting for a long time before actually doing it. I realized that i haven't been totally obedient and yielded to God. Something i really got to work on(esp when God gives me something to pray for during corporate prayer..)
The other thing that hit me was the last 6 words. 'Arise, let us go from here'. That sounded more like lets get moving, or it's time for us to go sort of thing..But when i read it, it felt as though God was telling me to arise, stand up, rise up, move out, and move on from where i am. And that really spoke to me. It was as though God was saying that it was time for us to Arise! and go from here, because from here on its another new start! It is time for us to get moving! We got to wake up, arise from our slumber! Stop being so laid back and stagnant, we gotta get a move on for now is the time! Its time for advancement, when we move, we always go forward and never backwards.. God IS ON THE MOVE, NLCC ARISE!!! Let us go from here.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
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Alright so my internet was down for the whole of last night so i couldn't do yesterday's post till now. I still did my devotion yesterday morning though, so it was good. Just briefly, last night we had another prayer session where we prayed about who our spiritual fathers should be, and later on for the leadership of the church. Found it really good coz i felt that God had told me some stuff and i've got a small clue as to what to do now. As we were praying for the leadership of the church, i felt that a certain sermon needed to be preached to the church. It's about badmouthing leadership in the church and gossiping about them to others. The church should realize the how serious it is to badmouth the church's pastors behind their backs, even if their unhappy with them for any reason, they should never try to sow discord among fellow brothers and sisters. An example is from 2 Samuel 6: 14-23. God is a just God, so he will curse those who curse us. Ooorrr we could just leave it to God to do it in his way and his time haha..we gotta be grateful for what He's already given to us.
For devotion yesterday, i read John 8:31-36.
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 33They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" 34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Amen! I don't think that this passage is a hard passage to understand, but the depth of it is really deep. The truth will set us free. Free from everything!! Its like the same saying that we are more than conquerors, and we have overcome. Because we have been set free from everything that can ever possibly hold us down! Our God is an awesome all powerful God, where nothing is impossible for him. So we have to realize that if He sets us free, we are free indeed! No worries of this world should hold us down, no problems, troubles, or hardships should ever get in our way.
But first we have to believe in Him, hold on to Hiss teachings to truly be his disciple. Only then will we know the truth and be set free. So we gotta check and see if we really believe in Him, hold on to His teachings and be a disciple of Christ. Because if we aren't, we haven't been set free yet.
May God reveal to us the true revelation of His death on the cross for our sins, and for our salvation. That we may take up our cross daily and realize how much He actually loves us.
Thank you Lord, you died for me, in love you gave, your life for me...
hmm just before i forget, i'll write down a dream that i had last night. Which i'm pretty sure was not made up by me coz i've never dreamt of anything like this before. What made it really weird was that i had a dream and woke up from that dream into another dream. It's like having a dream, and in that dream, i had another dream. When i finally woke up, my head felt so heavy cause i don't think i actually had much sleep the whole night. It's like i was in a whole other 'dream world' and my mind was working non stop.
I remember the dream starting with me working(in some mine or something like that), then all of a sudden from my normal clothes, im suddenly wearing this white robe over my body. I thought it was extremely weird cause it just changed in that instant. So i decided to go back to 'town' to see what is happening..When i got to the 'town' it was in complete chaos cause heaps of people had just disappeared and there weren't many people left, it's as though people had just vanished into thin air. But besides me there were a few others who also experienced the same thing as me, and were also wearing a white robe, but the number of people who were wearing a white robe was very few. So i remember being really confused and lost as to what was going on. Then i heard this voice(i think it was meant to be God) saying that all the 'evil' people or those who did not believe in His name, He has taken them away. All that is left are the people who believed in His name, and claimed to call themselves 'Christians'. But only those wearing the white robes are allowed to enter heaven, the rest so claim to believe in Jesus will not be allowed to enter because of existing sins in their life that is preventing them to, or other things like their heart not being right with God. The shocking and depressing news is that, out of the crowd of people who claimed themselves to be believers, only very few of them will end up in heaven. Then my dream ended there..and i woke up in another dream..
hmm its pretty weird and i don't know what it means, hopefully i didn't miss anything out..
Well besides the dream, God has been good to me and has been answering my prayers a lot! Did pretty well in 2 assignments that i just got back today so im happy, reflected on some of the little prayers that i prayed for and God answered. God's really amazing haha.. Next big thing on my daily prayer list that i feel has a greater importance to me now is still for my spiritual father.. Really need to pray that i will be more sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, that i would be able to hear His voice so clearly that i won't have to doubt at all, and that none of my personal feelings will get involved in this. Not that i have any favoritism, its just that i see almost like everyone in the men's net(besides uncle alex) as a brother, and would take me a while to adjust to the fact that they are now my 'spiritual father'. Ultimately i want it to be God's decision, and God's choice, cause thats the best choice.
Just to share what i did for devotion today, i read Matthew 6:32-34, which is about worrying.
32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Interestingly enough, i read this today, then at night the whole spiritual father thing came to me again, and i started worrying about it straight away..haha..thats badd. Well i read it again, and it realised that our heavenly father is a God of love who wants the best for us. And that He is our provider who will provide us with everything that we will ever need. All we have to do is seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and everything WILL be given to us. Sounds soo easy, but at the same time, not as easy as it sounds..God operates in a whole different realm from what we live in, and many times i find it really hard to operate in the spiritual realm. I guess it all just boils down to how much faith we actually have in God. To fully trust in him and be humble, which is to have utter and total dependence on God.
Sighh but even as im typing this out, there are still worries in my heart that are still clinging on to me. I try my best to forget them and leave them into God's hands, but a part of me just can't seem to let go. Really need to pray and ask God to remove those areas in my life that lack the faith and trust in God.
v34, do not worry about tomorrow, which is saying do not worry about the future, coz the future will worry about itself. How can we not worry about our future? It's such a hard thing to do, is worrying the same thing as planning? would planning for the future mean worrying for it? Because as we plan, things will certainly pop up and we will start worrying about it, and start making plans to avoid certain things, and as we make our own plan we start to neglect the plan that God has for us. But at the end of the day, the Bible says don't worry, so i will not worry. Partial obedience is disobedience. So we just need to have faith in whatever God does, but its easier said than done.
Today was bussyy, had a children's church seminar at uncle alex's and aunty janet's house, which started at 10.30 and ended at 3, but even after that we stayed behind to talk and i only got home at around 5..Then at night went for badminton, which drained any last bit of energy that was in me..But had lots of fun with fellow brother's and sister's from church the whole day!
During the children's church seminar, i felt the need for me to improve the level of worship since i'm involved in the worship section. So i thought about what i could do to improve worship, then the thought of me playing guitar during worship came into my mind. I know really really little about playing guitar, then i started to think about how much i need to learn in order to play guitar for worship songs, and it just seemed so impossible. Then i realised that if i truly wanted to make a change, i'll have to step out and believe that through God nothing is impossible. So my aim is to be able to play the guitar decently(at least the children church songs) by August, since that when im leading worship. First step is obviously to get a guitar...haha..
Anyway i didnt know what to do for devotion today, so i just flipped open my Bible and read what i saw. I ended up reading Mark 10:35-45. However v43-45 caught my attention.
43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Well these verses reminded me of the children's church seminar we had today..The whole point of me joining the children's church ministry was that i wanted to help out in the church more, and i didn't know what i could do. Then the thought came into my mind that i could always help out in the children's church since they would definitely need help. The whole point of the seminar today was to also help us teach better and serve God better. It's all about serving God, because He's given us so much that i'm thankful for and i guess my way of gratitude is by serving in His house. This is also an opportunity for me to give others what God has already given me, so that by giving others God will give me more. Same thing as sowing and reaping, and being faithful in little so that we may be faithful in much.
The whole point of me serving was not to be great or anything, since it is just totally against my nature to want attention, in fact its the opposite..And the reason i do all this is just to give God back a portion of what He's so blessed me with. By serving Him, it helps me draw nearer to Him and gives me that sense of joy that i am able to do something for God. I was really happy to read that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. Gave me this sense of joy because our goal is to be like Jesus as He was on this earth. Since he came not to be served, but serve, then i too will follow after his footsteps and serve others.
I want to serve God as much as i can, but i don't think these will be permanent though. Since i'll have to go back to Singapore for a year after i finish uni to do my national service, and by the time i come back, im sure many things would have changed and i too may have to start pursuing my calling..But i'll see when the time comes, im sure God has a plan. In the meantime, i'll do as much as i can serving God.
Lord i give you my heart, i give you my soul, i live for you alone, every step that i take, every moment im awake, Lord have your way in me
Another crazy Sunday with a baptismal service today and had our weekly sunday night prays. Was at church from 8.30a-11pm. Pretty nuts haha..
Anyway since im tired, I'll just jump straight into my devotion. Managed to do it before going to church today, so i felt pretty happy, because Anne said that God normally gives in the morning e.g manna and quail. So today i read Romans 5:1-5.
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
v1-2 had quite a bit to digest, but i think what it was trying to say was that we are now justified through faith, and have peace with God. We have gained access into grace by faith in which we now stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So we are justified through our faith, which is a spiritual gift. So since it was given to us because its a gift, means we already have it, means that we already are justified. We also have peace with God, not any ordinary peace, but peace that is with God. Whats the difference? I guess in this case does that mean that we are on like a truce with God, and are on the same side because of Lord Jesus Christ? We normally pray for the peace from God, to help us in our daily lives, but in this case we have peace WITH God.(totally different) Which we already have since we are justified by faith.
v3-5 was interesting cause it talked about us suffering, or in the NKJV version it calls it tribulations, which means a condition of affliction or distress. This was interesting because we always think that since we are Christians, we will have a victorious life since God is a victorious God. However if we're victorious, why do we still need to suffer? Don't only people who lose suffer? Then i realised that even though we are victorious, to get to that victorious stage, we first have to mature in Christ and go through the whole growing stage. And in that growing stage is where we will experience all the tribulations and sufferings. Whats more, even when Jesus himself was on earth, he had to grow up like any normal human and had to go through sufferings as well. Furthermore, from what i learnt yesterday, long suffering is also a fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, the bottom line is that Christians will go through sufferings and it is normal, just like how it is normal to experience pain and hurt if you love a lot.
However the bright side is that through all these sufferings, it produces perseverance, character and hope. Don't know why they used "perseverance, character; and character, hope" thought the way they structured it was a bit funny..maybe im missing something?(not too sure..) Then in v5 we realise the importance of hope and it explains that God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So the whole point of suffering is to develop perseverance, character, and hope..and through that hope, we receive God's love! So it's all worth it at the end of the day!
Your love broke through my night, restored exceeding joy, Your love fell like the rain and made this desert live..
Just got back from watching Narnia the second one, and it was great! Didn't watch the first one, but found this one really really good! Anywaay, today has been soo busy, didn't have any free time at all..lots of prayer today as usual, which is awesome. And had worshipNet, which was great as well! Anne brought us back to the basics of worshipping as the Bible states.
The way we should worship(all with Bible ref.)
- Sing
- Clap our hands
- Shout unto God
- Spreading out our hands
- Dance
- Bow down
- Kneel down
- Meditation
- Playing music
Learnt stuff like bowing down and kneeling down were different, what spreading out of hands meant, and the most shocking one was dancing. Well i guess since i've never seen people dancing at church before, so i never knew it was Biblical. Other things i learnt was that if we don't worship the way God wants us to, it is counted as rebellion, which is sin. In the NKJV version, long suffering is part of the fruits of the Spirit. In Matthew 7:22-23, there were many people who prophesied, casted out demons, and did miracles in Jesus' name, but however they could not enter into the kingdom of God! Found it hard to believe, that if people such as that could not enter, what about people like me who hasn't done stuff like that before? Wouldn't it be even harder for me to enter the kingdom of God? But i realised that there were reasons for that, e.g they moved away from God, grew cold, stopped listening to God, etc..
I woke up late today, didn't have time to do devotion in the morning, and the whole afternoon never really came back home and had time by myself once, and at night went to watch Narnia..So i haven't really had enough time to do a proper devotion. So i just did some quick reading on the stoning of Stephan in Acts 7:54-60.
54When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56"Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
To me, i see Stephan as this amazing man of God who has no fear of men, but only the fear of God. He didn't care what the villagers thought of him, or what they would do to him, he was only concerned about obeying God and being God's mouthpiece. It's so interesting how after the villagers got all angry and furious at him, he being so full of the Holy Spirit remained calm, and still managed to look to heaven and see the glory of God with Jesus standing at His right hand. I could imagine that if that was me in the exact same situation, i would have ran away knowing better than to stay there and get stoned by those villagers. But Stephan remained calm and full of the Holy Spirit. He must have been so in tune and sensitive to the Holy Spirit that he was just living by faith, trusting in whatever God wanted him to do.
Then in v57-58, some weird things happen which i don't really understand the significance of. E.g people covering their ears and screaming? Witnesses laying their clothes at the feet of Saul? What were the meanings behind these actions? It looked as though they were demon-possessed and couldn't stand hearing the words of God.
Then Stephan got stoned, but the good thing is that in the Bible it is recorded that he fell asleep, not died, but fell asleep. I wonder what was the difference.. Was it recorded like that just so it sounded less dramatic? Or was it because at that time he looked so calm and peaceful that it seemed as though he was sleeping? If he looked as though he was sleeping, it must have been painless for him, which is pretty awesome.
King of kings and Lord of lords, glory hallelujah.. King of kings and Lord of lords, glory hallelujah..
worship tonight at yaf was cool, just guitar, drums, and vocals. felt like another prayer meeting worship style since the drums could hardly be heard. But it was so easy just to get into His presence to worship Him.. Life group was good, talked about the armour of God and the spiritual realm. Adrian said something which made me think a bit, he asked what does reaching out mean? So i immediately thought of reaching out as means of getting more new people to come to church and receiving Christ. But why is it called reaching out? Or sometimes we have outreach events? So talking english wise, to reach out means to stretch your hand out, and usually you reach out to get something or grab something. Then it dawned on me that we are constantly meant to reach out and grab people from the grips of the devil and pull them over to God's side where their meant to be! So basically outreach events are times where to grab people away from death and away from hell, but into life in Jesus. Now it makes sense why we are always called to reach out to people.
Ok so as i was doing devotion today, 2 verses stood out to me. Hebrews 6:19-20
[NIV version]
19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
[NKJV version]
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
Ok so if we read a bit further back, the hope that is talked about is the hope of claiming God's promises because it is impossible for God to lie. And in v19, it says that this hope that we have is like an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. The NKJV says its both sure and steadfast. Both which roughly mean the same thing, coz God is our rock, He is firm and steadfast, nothing in this world can ever shake Him. So if we are in Him and Him in us, we would also never get shaken by anything if we rely on God. God is also our security. In Him we are secure, we are sure of our future, of any plans that God has for us. We won't have to worry about anything or about what the future holds for us, because in God there is peace and security. He is our strong tower, He will protect us from anything as long as we remain under His cover.
The thing that really spoke to me was the second part of v19. The NKJV version says "and which enters the Presence behind the veil,". Wow.. That is so true! So many times feel that the only that is blocking us from God is this thin veil, and thats all. As long as we can pass the veil, we can enter into His glorious presence. How i wish to be able to stay in His presence behind that veil all the time. The NIV calls it the 'inner sanctuary', the secret place where it's just God and I. Where God's presence is and can be found. It's amazing how the only thing thats blocking us is this thin veil, coz to God no problem is ever too big for Him to handle. Its just this thin veil that separates us, and all we have to do is to push that veil aside and walk into His presence. And we know that we can confidently enter His presence because in v20 its said that Jesus, went before us on behalf of us and became a high priest there forever!! So as long as we trust and believe in Jesus, we can have this hope that lets us enter His presence past the veil.
As i come into your presence, past the gates of praise, into your sanctuary, till we're standing face to face
Wow! Thursday prayer meeting.. another aweesoommee time!! had a pre-prayer meeting prayer time at anne and stig's house..and even at their house i could such sense a strong presence of the Holy Spirit as we were praying. Then we came to church to meet up with Henry, Rowan, and Mary. And ooh boy, the prayer we had at church was even STRONGER!! The presence was just soo crazy and there were many different kinds of manifestation that were happening. E.g. more people getting drunk, and the weight of God's glory that literally caused Henry to fall under His weight..and he's still at church this very moment as i'm blogging this..LOL
WOW!! God's love is soooo real and sooo crazy! I've knew how crazy God was about us.. Everyone always says that God loves you and stuff, and we all know that God is love. BUT God is mad about us! Like totally seriously mad and cookoo over us..If you think about the person you love the most in the whole world, and you say that you would die for that person coz you love him/her so much..but then you think about how much God loves you, and that Jesus has ALREADY died for us!! How crazy is that?? You love someone sooo much that you would die for them, but God loves us even more than that. I'm just so shocked and amazed right now, i can't seem to get over that, its like God gave me a whole revelation on how much He actually loves us. It's like i know it, and don't know it at the same time. Wow..my brain is gonna explode with all this excitement and eagerness in me. HIS LOVE IS SO REAL THAT ITS UNREAL.
woah.. i'm just so speechless at God right now..Sososososoo amazing..Alright, so tonight many things happened..God told me something, that i shouldn't have any fear of anything in my life, the only fear i should have is the fear of God! This got hit in when this afternoon as we were watching some bethel sermon, the pastor goes up to say he's lost the fear of men! I was wondering..is there even such a thing??!! Then i realised, that why not? I've never thought of such fear before, whenever i think of fear i think of the feear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of being laughed at, or some of the other fears.. But fear of men..wow..Anyway, fear is bad, and the only fear we should have is the fear of God.
Another thing cool that happened tonight was when Anne told me that i should pray for sam. At first i thought ok.. its just praying. Then as i sat next to sam, realised that i had to speak into his life! I got a bit nervous, cause it wasn't as though God had given something to speak yet. Oh well, so i prayed to God to give me something to say, i cleared my mind and prayed..Then after a while something popped into my mind, it was all a blur, and i knew what it was in my mind, but didn't really know how to put it into words..So i just opened my mouth and blurted out whatever came out, hopefully it came out the right way.. Oh, but it sure was an experience.
I pray that i become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit, that i would be able to hear his voice so clearly, and that i'll be able to feel what the Holy Spirit is feeling.e.g grief, sorrow, joy.. I just want to be constantly on the same page with the Holy Spirit.
Anyway some great news... 19 baptismal candidates for Sunday's baptism!!! w000t!! isn't it awesome!!! 19 new brothers and sisters joining us into the kingdom of God :) i feel so happy!
Just to share a bit about about what i learnt from the bethel sermon.
Romans 4:13
13It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Abraham received the promise through righteousness that comes by faith. So in the same way, we receive our promises in God through righteousness that comes by faith. We can't earn them, or work for them. It is through our faith, that brings about the righteousness in us that we receive the promises of God. Faith puts us into righteousness, and the realization that we are righteous lets us live for God(to reign in live).
Romans 5:17
"...how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ."
We have been destined to reign in life. To live a life of victory though Jesus Christ! We just have to be yielded to Him. Righteousness gives us a kingly authority over life! Wow..so amazing..
Last thing that hit me was when the pastor said that if we feel that we can only get rid of sin after we die, then that means that death has become our Saviour, and not Jesus. Scary, but yet true..
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
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Prayer Meeting tonight was on FIRE!! Wow!! It sure was awesome!
We started off with singing the first song 'We've Come to Worship You', it was a fast song and as we were singing it, for some reason tears just started flowing down. I was really touched as we were singing that song, and for some reason this time when we sang it, to me it seemed different! Praise God for the Holy Spirit moving in our midst during the prayer meeting tonight.
Tonight we did things differently as we didn't break up into groups to pray, and another thing we did different is that we held the hands of the people next to us and prayed for God's fire in them. It was cool!! So Ps Catherine prayed for me from behind, and to my right was Sarah. The moment we started praying for fire, whoooosh! I felt something rise up in my body, i started getting really really hot, and the next thing i knew, i was sweating! And it wasn't just one or two droplets of sweat, but heappss of them. I could feel my shirt all hot and wet coz of the sweat, and my face was hurting like there was pins prickling it, might be due to heat. But wow, when we prayed for fire, i really did feel that i received fire. It was just amazing!! I benefited so much from it, not too sure if i managed to give any fire to Ps Catherine or Sarah though :S... Anyway i think our hands were lifted up for quite a while, and after maybe 20mins my hands were sore and i couldn't feel my hands anymore haha.. Felt bad for Sarah too coz i'm pretty sure her arms were sore as well, but we didn't put our hands down for some reason, i think we both waiting for the other party to put their hands down first.
Oh boy, but we really do need to pray for fire more often, it's soo cool. I felt the worship for this prayer meeting was much better! Felt the Holy Spirit move, and brought me to my tears so many times. It really is just getting better and better, i'm not too sure if its possible to see glory or not, but if it is, i must've seen glory all around us as we worshipped. Can't wait for the next prayer meeting now!!
Anyway, on another note..i was just browsing the net today and i saw this ad that said this 'Don't Hide. Seek'. I looked at it for a while and read it a few times, then i realised that that is what we should be doing if we really want to see God. We mustn't hide, but seek! We will never find God if we hide from him. I remember i used to hide from God a lot, i used to think that i was this filthy sinner and was also too ashamed to face God, and if by some chance i saw God, i usually thought that He would kill me on the spot for all the sin that i've done. But i soon learnt that hiding does not do me any good, if i want something i have to seek it. Ermm like something Anne said today at prayer meeting, only the violent obtain it cause they grab it by force..or something like that..So if we want anything we got to go after it. Decided to look up what the Bible tells us to seek for.
Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.
1 Chronicles 16:11
Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.
2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Psalm 9:10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 27:8
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek
So we can see, many times in the Bible we have been told to seek one thing, and that is to seek God and His face. So another reason why we must seek God is because we want to have a more deeper and intimate relationship with him, and also because the Bible tells us to do it, so we obey. The good thing to all this is that if we seek Him with all our heart and soul, we WILL find him.
Some other things we gotta seek for is knowledge(Proverbs 15:114), advice(Proverbs 20:18), justice(Isiah 1:17), truth(Jeremiah 5:1), God's favor(Jeremiah 26:19), peace and prosperity(Jeremiah 29:7), righteousness and humility(Zephaniah 2:3).
Some of the famous seeking verses.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 7:7
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Romans 2:7
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Aaah from these verses we can see the importance of seeking. Mainly because if we seek God, we get life. Who doesn't want life? i don't know, but i know i do. These few verses are so big that i can get an individual revelation from each one of them. All we have to do is to seek His kingdom first, His face, and Him.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, then all these things will added unto you, hallelu-hallelujah
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