Monday, September 29, 2008
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Today's been a good day. Thank You God. Opened more doors for me to invite more people to the miracle encounter, they said they'll consider but i pray that God will move their hearts to come. Don't want anyone to miss out on something as great as salvation! An interesting that happened today was that while i was at uni doing a group assignment, i suddenly had this craving to just worship Him and be in His presence.. It was so random and totally out of the blue, but i really wanted to just go home and to start worshipping on the guitar. It was like a sudden spark and felt this inspiration come over me, and if i had a guitar i think i would have been able to write a song haha.. Just one of those moments i guess.
Day 87.
Found today's reading a little bit weird.. Read about the men of Gibeah from the Benjaminites, and how they're not really normal humans. So the goes with a levite and his concubine are on they're way back to Ephraim from Bethleham, and they stop by this town called Gibeah to stay overnight. Then as they're in this old man's house, something totally weird happens.. Judges 19
22 As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!”
23 But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine; let me bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!” 25 But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the day began to break, they let her go.
So i found it extremely uncomfortable reading it because it was pretty sick/disturbing.. But well because of this event, the other tribes of the Israelites waged war agaisnt the Benjaminites and destroyed all the men in Gibeah at the end. Why would God let such a thing happen? I'm not sure, but God has His ways, and this event is recorded in the Bible for a reason.. Soo we just have to learn from it, and pray really hard that such a thing would never happen again.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
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w00t got more uni freinds to come for the miracle encounter! Its definitely gonna be a blast! Whats even more amazing is that God is gonna exceed our expectations, and i know that my expections are pretty high that it's almost impossible to meet.. but haha it's God who we're talking about, where nothing is impossible for Him :))
Had a pretty awesome day at church today, found both sermons today really good.. Got me thinking quite a bit which is a good thing.. And with the miracle encounter coming up, both sermons today had large portion which was focused on faith, which will be crucial to see miracles happen. We don't want our level of faith to be a bottleneck at the miracle encounter.
One especially interesting thing that happened to me today was that i got to see first hand how Ps Chris did healing. He prayed for a sick uncle and asked me to observe i think, and i managed to pick up a few pointers myself which was really cool. For starters, Ps Chris got the uncle to read James 5:14-15, not sure if its to increase his faith or something along those lines to reassure him that he's doing the right thing by asking for healing. Then he used some of the special anointing oil and prayed for uncle.(anointing oil is for christians, and laying of hands is for non-christians) The whole process was really short and was over really quickly, but i could really sense a change in atmosphere of the room when the prayer started, it's like the presence of God became stronger or thicker. Overall it was a great eye opening experience for me and sorta increased my spiritual knowledge.
Day 86.
With the Israelites, there's some kind of cycle that's going on..First God saves them and rescues them, then after a while the Israelites get complacent and forget God's warnings and commandments and falls back into sin. God punishes them and they realise they cannot survive on their own, then they call out to God for help, and God will send someone to help them and pull them out of their troubles and evrything will be good for a while before the whole cycle continues again.. Today the God gave the Israelites a choice to do whatever they want and God didn't control them, and after a while they ended up spiralling back into sin with idol worshipping. Why? because God didn't place any rulers over them and allowed them to do whatever they wanted. That's what happen when we we follow our own decisions instead of seeking for God's. So God's protection wasn't with the Israelites, and whenever they went out for war, they would always suffer greatly. Another thing i learnt is that God reguarly test us to see whether we would follow His commandments. He would put us in situations to see what we would do, and see how we would react/respond. Though that may seem like a nasty thing for someone to do, but that is to keep us from sinning by constantly placing in us the fear of the LORD. And God will never give us more than what we can bear or handle, so we don't have to worry if we're not strong enough, because we will be with God's strength. God is a God of love, and everything He does is out of love.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
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Miracle encounter is drawing really close now! This time next week, everything would have changed! The amazing signs and miracles that will be happening next week is still slowly trying to make sense to me.. We had a good time of prayer today at worshipnet, and im glad that so many there were so many words and visions released to us as we were praying. Thank You God.
Then we hit the streets for prayer walk, and this time it was in the city! I think i made a bit of progress this time because i actually managed to open my mouth and speak to a few people..although i got rejected, i felt pretty good after talking to them and wasn't really too worried on being rejected. For me i think this was a pretty big step for 'stepping out of my comfort zone' since i'm never used to the idea of speaking to strangers, even more sharing the gospel woth strangers. I know i should be, but i've never really done it before.. But i can safely say that i had lots of fun at the prayer walk today, and i'm just glad that im one step closer to being a more obediant child of God.
On a side note, as we were praying at worshipnet this morning, God just started reminding me of all the crazy amazing miracles that He did in the Old testment. I mean waaay back then, it was just God, and the things He did was totally whacked, like it is out of some fantasy story book or something. He made the parted the red sea, guided the Israelites with a pillar of fire, sent the 10 plauges to free the Israelites out of Egypt, opened the earth to swallow people, made the sun freeze in the sky for an entire day, caused fortified walls to come crumbling down, fed hundreds of thousands of Israelites with mana and quail in the middle of the desert, made water come out from rocks, killed armies by sending large hailstones from the sky, and sosososoo many more amazing things. God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore! That is the same God that will be doing crazy things at next weeks mircale encounter, so we should never try to limit God to what He can do, because He can call forth things into existence that has never existed before. He is God!! I can't wait for next week because anything can happen, literally ANYTHING!! Expect the Unexpected!
Day 85.
Today i read of Joshua passing away at the age of 110 years old, and after that, the Israelites slowly fall back into their old sinful nature, and return to idol worshipping.
As i was reading, a verse stood out to me, and that was Joshua 24:14a
14 “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth
I always knew that we had to worship God in spirit and in truth, but this time it said to worship Him in sincerity and in truth. God wants sincere worship from us, we are to be honest when we are worshipping God. How often do we sincerely and honestly worship God with our heart? We can worship Him by singing songs and praising His name, but are we sincerely doing it? Or are we doing it because we're just used to it, or because everyone else around us is worshipping God too? So i guess one thing that i learnt today was that God wants us to worship him in sincerity, honestly, and not just giving lip service, but really mean every word we sing, and that it comes from the heart.
Friday, September 26, 2008
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Well yaf tonight was fun! I really liked the worship, because i could just feel the flow in the place and just like jump on the flow and move along with it. There was a great atmosphere in the sanctuary, and i think i ended up in my own world, which was cool. We had a pretty small group life group tonight with just 8 of us, but i think that the lessons taught tonight were really good. Espcially since we're leading up to the miracle encounter!!! One word came into my mind tonight as we were in life group, and the word was: "desperate". How desperate are we to get something? How much are we willing to sacrfice? How far are we willing to go? How long are we willing to fight for it? I feel that God was asking me how desperate i really am for different things in my life. If we really want something really badly, we would throw away everything just to obtain that one thing. How desperate am i for God?
On another note, went through two ways to live tonight with david and another new guy named eric, with me being the observer. I found it really interesting since i myself have never gone through two ways to live myself. Needless to say, david was a gun at it and i think the way he brought the message across was simple and easy to understand, and at the same time not missing any important points. David must have done it heaps of times because he was really organized and knew when to say what, and how to lead on to the next part and everything.. I personally gained a lot by going through it, and i even managed to learn new things from that simple booklet!
Day 84.
The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh was sent back to their own cities because all the wars and fighting were over. They built an alter on the border at the region of the Jordon to God as a witness for their younger generations for the years to come. However there was misunderstanding between the rest of the Israelites and they thought that they were building an alter for something else which was bad in God's sight, and as a result cause more destruction among the Israelites. I guess, the Israelites must have learnt their lessons from before and now know what their meant to do, and what their not meant to do. The moment they found something that was not right they immediately went to address the issue, but sadly it was all just a misunderstanding in the end. What i took away is that we gotta be like the Israelites in this case and be wise by learning from our past mistakes and not committing them again.
Hmm i've realised that i there are many things that i know in my mind, but don't yet know it with my heart.. I know it in my mind that i should be doing certain things, and i shouldn't be doing certain things, but somehow I just can't seem to register it into my heart. It's really different when you know something with your heart, than compared to when you know it with your mind.. The one thing i learnt is that when you know something with your heart, it just flows out of you really naturally and you don't have to force it out and squeeze it out. I guess my problem is that there are quite a lot of things that i know in the Bible and about God which is just head knowledge, i know it in my mind, but i dont fully understand it with my heart. There're so many examples i can give but a simple one would be something like grace. I know of grace, i've heard of it, and i know about it in my head. But i still cannot fully understand the concept of it in my heart, and that may be why i struggle of find it hard sometimes to fully grasp the amazing concept of grace. I really to start listening and learning with my heart instead of my physical self..but how can i do it?
Day 83.
The giving of the inheritance continues and the Bible is very precise, mentioning a lot of names and there are literally pages and pages of just names of the different tribes, and what portion of land they are receiving. What i found amazing was the last group of Isrealites, who technically weren't given any land as inheritance, and they were the Levites. Why weren't they given any land as an inheritance? Because i think they had already received a far greater inheritance than any amount of land or wealth can compare to. Their inheritance was the LORD, God of Israel, which was promised to them. And because of that, at the end they ended up having land being set apart for them from each tribe because God was their inheritance. The way i see it, they get to enjoy the best of many worlds. So as long as we're on God's side, we'll never lose out.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
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Day 82.
OK so today's devotion was about the different allotment of inheritence given to the different tribes after entering into the promise land. There were lots of names of different people, and lots of lands mentioned, and it seemed more like a history lesson..But this is the Bible, and there are nuggests of gold in every page of the Bible, it's just how we look at it i guess. Well what i learnt today was that we each have different allotments of whatever it may be that God is giving us. Every person has a different piece of land, and a different amount, and we have to best make use of the things given to us. On every person's plate is a different inheritance, and it was given to us as a gift from God, so we are to be profitable servants of God and use whatever we have wisely to advance the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 1:18
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
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Day 81.
Joshua 1:8
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
This verse struck me as i was doing my devotion, and is a very good verse, definitely worth remembering. It is one of those verses which tells us what to do, and what will happen after we do it. What struck me in this verse was the second part, where it said "For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." The word 'you' stood out to me. Who doesn't want to be prosperous and be successful? i do. That's why im always praying to ask God to help me and make me successful. But from this verse, who is the one that will make our way prosperous and successful? It is us! We are the ones who will make our own ways properous and successful. No one else can. And how do we do it? It is by meditating on God's Word day and night so that we will do everything that is written in it.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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Day 80.
The Israelites continued their killing spree.. destroying all the different armies, and slaughtering everyone leaveing no one alive. What i found interesting is when the 5 Amorite kings joined forces and when to fight the Gibeon army, and God told Joshua to go for He has already delivered them into their hands. And God literally fought the war for them killing the enemy by sending large hailstones on them from the sky. It is recorded in the Bible that more of the enemy died from the hail, than the Israelites had killed with the sword! That would be a pretty interesting sight to see..
Another cool thing that God did was to make the sun stop in the sky for almost a day. I remember reading some sort of chain email regarding the sun stopping, and apparantly when scientist were calculating something, they realised that there was an extra day somewhere or something like that, and some people are saying that the extra day is when God caused the sun to stop in the sky for almost a whole day. Not too sure how correct that is, but the fact that God made the sun stop in the middle of the sky for almost a whole day is pretty cool. It goes to show the fact that with God nothing is impossible. If He did such crazy stuff like killing armies with large hailstones, and leaving the sun in the sky for more than a day back in the old testament, He can still do it again because He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore! With God all things really are possible!
Monday, September 22, 2008
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Ok, my comp is back up and running!
rawrr so many things happened today that i'm not even sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing.I remember the morning service as really 'heavy' most probably because when anne was preaching, something hit me and got me thinking.. and i ended up thinking for a long time during them sermon, and the more i thought about things the worse it seemed to get. Anyway it just got all blehh and i was so confused/lost at myself. Then there was an alter call, i knew i needed to go up, so i went, and ended up being prayed for by all 3 pastors. Each one said different things, but all seemed to be relevant(either that or i have lots of issues). I guess i just felt really burdened down? but by what? I'm not even sure myself, and that's what makes it worse >.< Then we had bilingual service, which i thought worship was fun, since yang was nuts on the drums and i got to play the guitar(which i think i played half of the songs wrongly). After that, the word from Ps Chris was a good one, and got me thinking: Do i really know what grace truly is?? Then at the end of the night, we had a small worship/prayer meeting, where i realised that my mind likes playing games on myself. One moment i would be fine, then the next moment a thought comes in and i'm suddenly all emo, then after a while i'll be alright.. bah that was weird.. i think there was too much for my mind to handle in one day..
hmm i need to say sorry to God, and ask for His forgiveness.. i've been so dumb and foolish, and short-sighted. Need to get a grip once more.
Day 79.
Well Moses passes away, and Joshua takes over the role of leading the Israelites. Under God's direction, the Israelites knock down the walls of Jericho and utterly destroyed the city, leaving no person alive. Interesting thing is that if the Israelites shouted so loud that the fortified walls of the city came down, wouldn't it have been loud enough to make them deaf as well? Either God protected their ears from going deaf, or He just knocked down the walls Himself. Then from there they went to attack Ai, which they failed on their first attempt and had to flee. The reason of their defeat was because of disobedience to God, but because Joshua consulted with God, he was told what to do, and the next time they attacked, the Israelites had the complete victory. This reminded me once again of how bad disobience is, just because they won the war at Jericho, didn't mean that they were gonna win the war at Ai. They failed the first time because they were disobient, so the punishment for disobience can be very severe.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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Day 73.
Just quickly since it's really late now..Read Deuteronomy 28 today and it's a really scary chapter. Scary in a way that it talks about all the curses and horrible things that will happen if we don't obey God and follow His commands carefully. It's not just death , but you get like tortured and the life that you would have which is described in that chapter is something like living in hell, but with hell obviously being a million times worse. Reading that chapter shook me a bit :S Thank God for Jesus.
The wages of sin is death.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
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The baptisms at church today was great! It was really good to just hear how God is touching the lives of people all around, and how fellow brothers and sisters are just experiencing God in such a real way. I was really encouraged and it spurred me on to want to continue pushing on and going deeper. There are so many hurting people out there that just need to feel the love of God, and we have been given the responsibility to lead them to that love. Every baptismal testimony always just stirs me up, and i look forward to more baptisms in the future to welcome in new brothers and sisters, and to also hear of more great works that God is doing all around us.
Just something that got me thinking a bit today was when my mum called, and somehow we got to the point where she said something in the Bible which went something like: we have to work while there's still light, because when it's dark it'll be too late(or something like that..) Anyway the context my mum was talking in was studies, and how as a student i should do my best in my studies now before it's too late. But a thought came into my head, which was instead of studies, what if our 'work' here meant our work for Christ. Where the 'light' stood for the time that we are still alive and here on earth, and the 'dark' stood for when we are dead or in hell.. So while we are still on earth, we have to work, which is to spread the good news, before it's too late and we end up dying and land in hell! That's just somethnig that came to my mind, don't even know if that is biblically correct or anything..
Day 72.
For today, one of the things that i read which had a greater imapct on me was the blessing and curses sections in Deuteronomy which i think most people have read or heard of at least once before. The curses are from Dueteronomy 27:15-26, and the blessings are from Deuteronomy 28:1-4. I'm not sure if that's all, but that's all that i've read today. Think they're both really important to read, and to know, so that we know what to avoid doing to not get cursed, and to also know what we'll be blessed with and to claim those blessings over our lives!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
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Hmmm went for the prayer walk this afternoon and found it pretty good. It was a good chance for me especially to learn to sorta step out of my comfort zone and talk to people i don't know off the streets and be a blessing to them. I partnered up with Rowan and it was a pretty interesting experience, since both of us were new to this whole prayer walk thing(or at least i was), and Rowan was a really really friendly guy. He said hi to lots of people, till the extent where i thought it was more frightening than friendly. But i was proved wrong when he managed to start conversations with strangers just by saying hi and asking them how they're doing! Haha i don't think Rowan will ever have any problems of being bold, or speaking up.. he's got this inner confidence and shine that just puts a smile on his face no matter what response he gets from different people. Hopefully as we do it more often, i'll get used to it and be a fruitful servant in the kingdom of God!
Day 71.
Read some interesting regulations for Israel today.. What do you do if you have a stubborn son?(which i think we all were at some stage) In Deuteronomy 21:18-21, it says that the parents will have to bring the son to the elders of the city, and all the men of the city will stone him to death..to purge the evil and so that all Israel will hear and be afraid. I thought it that the punishment was a bit harsh, and i'm glad that we don't follow that nowadays, but it does sound like a method that would actually work. The next thing i read was something about hanging from Deuteronomy 21:22-23.
22 “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.When i read this, i thought to myself that Jesus died and was crucified..which is the same as to being hung on a tree because the crosses back then were just trees that were cut into two pieces. Here it says that whoever who is hanged is under God's curse(from a different version), so pretty much Jesus took the curse to save us and so that we may have life. He Himself took on the curse and all the shame for our sake. That's just so amazing to know!! And just 2 totally random things that i read which i found interesting since it was in the Bible.. Deuteronomy 25:11-12 11 “If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not pity her.
Deuteronomy 22:5 5 “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God.
Found the first one really weird.. especially since it was mentioned in the Bible haha.. But found the second one more relevent since there are people who cross dress. So i guess it is clearly stated in the Bible that we shouldn't wear anything which belongs to the opposite gender, so i guess such things as cross dressing parties are a nono in God's sight. This is just something new that i learnt today haha...
Friday, September 12, 2008
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woot yaf was funnXD I think worship turned out really well in the end.. even though i thought it was pretty rushed during the practice. It also feels different being on stage and being in the congregation, i wonder how it felt like just worshipping in the congregation tonight..it must have been awesome, with the presence of God and His anointing just flowing in the sactuary as we were worshipping. I remember once when i looked up from my drums into the congregation, and all i saw were hands lifted everywhere, with eyes closed, and people just fully worshipping God. That sight was just sooo amazing, it seemed like one of those things where you can only see when your at some conference, but i saw it here at our church, with our worship!! Really encouraging :)
God is moving!
Day 70.
For today's devotion, i read something about prophets, and found it really good knowledge to just know. It's also important how in a sense the anti-christ, who is coming soon because Jesus is coming back soon, will also i think be like a prophet. We will have to be very discerning and ensure that we don't fall into the same trap that many others will fall into. So learning more about prophets is a good thing.
Deuteronomy 18:15-22
18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
:( feel like just going to some place far far away... but that would mean... i'm running away?
Day 69.
Just wanna point out something i read. Deuteronomy 16:18-20.(ESV - closest to the one im reading)
18"You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. 20Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Was gonna say that we should judge people with righteous judgement, but then i remembered, who are we to judge others? Hmm but if by some chance someone becomes a judge one day, this would be good to follow..to judge others with righteous judgement. I also like how in v19 it says that we shall not pervert justice and not show partiality, in my version it says "do not deny justice or show partiality to anyone". Which means that justice is an action, or a choice that we make, which can be denied to others. Then in v20 in the version in reading(Holman Christian Standard Bible), it says "Pursue justice, and justice alone.." I like how they use the word pursue, because it gives it a sense of something thats effort needs to be put into it, and that it is something that we gotta do actively and ongoing all the time. To pursue is to chase or go after, that takes time, effort, energy, and most often isn't easy at all. We are meant to pursue justice! God is a just God, so we His children should be like Him.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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The universe is at Your feet
Gives You praise
Evermore
The stars will light the sky for You
Always
God be praised
And we sing
The Lord is on high
The Lord is on high
I adore You
I adore You
And there's none that compares
To Your majesty O Lord
I adore You
I adore You
And I stand
In wonder of Your love
We will crown You
King forever
Living Saviour
Jesus Redeemer
Lord of Heaven
Robed in majesty
Crowned in glory
Creation adores You
Holy Holy
God almighty
And forever the Lord is exalted
Hear the angels
Shout His anthem
Ever-living
God we adore You
Day 68.
The one thing i've realised so far from what i've read in the old testament, God is pretty serious about disobedience, idolatry, and offerings.. Technically, idolatry would come under disobedience since it is one of the ten commandments, and offerings if not done properly to the way God wants it to be done is also disobedience. And in a basically, disobedience to God is sin. I've read a lot of passages lately on being careful of idolatry, and how God hates it.. that people who worship idols other than God will be instantly killed. Whenever the Israelites take over another city, they are to immediately burn up every single idol there, it's one of the first things that they have to do straight away. And God has warned us time and time again about just how much he hates idol worshipping, because it is sin! Punishment of sin is death. So i thought to myself, idols don't necessarily have to be like what it was in the old days..it might not be a statue, or some kind of structure that people worship..but it is just anything that takes priority over God in our lives. So pretty much anything can be can idol in our life, as long as it is placed above God. E.g studies, work, friends, computer games, sports, hobbies.. If anything takes more importance has has a greater value in our life when compared to God, it is an idol. And God hates idolatry. So i ask myself this question, are there any idols or things in my life that have a higher place than God in my life? If there are, we are to burn it up immediately(which is to get rid of it totally leaving behind nothing..)
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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Day 67.
The one thing i learnt today from reading the Bible is that all the stuff that the Israelites managed to accomplished and all the great works that had come out from them, was not by them, but from God. All the lands that they managed t obtain, and all the armies they defeated, it was not because they were good, or strong, or powerful, but it was because God fought for them, and God was their strength. The Israelites weren't even worthy or deserving of such things, many times in the Bible, the Israelites are called stiff-necked people who weren't even righteous in God's eyes. They rebelled against God many times, and made Him angry all the time..if not for God's promise to their ancestors, God would have killed them or let them die. But God is a faithful God, and keeps His word. What He says He will do, He will do it.
In the same way, we have to realize that everything we do and accomplish is not by our strength and by our might, or because we're good at what we do. But instead it is because God is good and gracious towards us and goes before us, enabling us to ave success in whatever we do. We have to realize that we are nothing and can do nothing without God. Our success is not due to hman worthiness, but to divine mercy. This is the same with our lives and for the church now.
Monday, September 8, 2008
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uhh didn't feel too good today.. woke up with cough, blocked nose, runny nose, and a sore throat.. it was really annoying especially since i had a long day of uni today. But somehow it seemed that i wasn't the only sick one at uni, in my lectures and tutes there were also quite a few people with coughs and runny noses. So it must be weather... Anyway im much better now with pretty much everything gone except for my blocked nose, which is gonna be a pain when i sleep. But im praying for healing so i believe that i will be totally healed by tomorrow! i can't afford to cause the people around me to be sick as well >.<
Day 66.
Just gonna highlight some of the verses that really stood out to me today as I was reading the Bible.
Dueteronomy 4:29, 31
29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
31 (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
Dueteronomy 5:32-32
32 “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
Dueteronomy 6:4-5, 13, 25
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
13 Fear the LORD your God, worship Him, and take your oaths in His name.
25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’
Dueteronomy 7:9
9 “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
These are just some of the verses that really spoke to me and stood out as i was reading the Bible. Most of them are good reminders that just keeps me on track, and to remember who God says He is and what He will do. Found dueteronomy 5:32 really good, because i tend to wander off very easily..so it felt as though it was speaking directly to me, and telling me not to move to the right or to the left. We have to be CAREFUL to do what the LORD has commanded us to do, that means that we have to be alert, and take great care/caution to listen be obedient to God, and do what He has commanded us to do..Found that pretty important.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
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Cool just quickly, church today was fun and long, and just got longer because of the 8am worship practices haha.. Had the same vision as Anne this morning as we were praying, but i thought it was for myself therefore i didn't share it, so boo me.. The vision was this jar or earthen vessel which was empty at first, but it was slowly getting filled with something, which i think was water, till it was full. Not too sure what it really meant besides the fact that we were those jars that were being filled by the Holy Spirit. When Anne first said that she had a vision and started explaning it, it's pretty amazing how what she described was like 99% to what i saw..My mind was in a state of: oh my goodness, wow, u serious?? haha the way God works is so amazing.. Another thing that i liked today was Rowen's testimony! I think it was abbsolutely awessommee what God is doing for Rowen, and his faith is certainly something that is to be taken note of! One day praying for finance, the next day getting a job, and a few days after getting a 5 digit cheque from the government which means that the minimum amount is $10,000!! The power of prayer!!
hmm just got some news, i might be moving again?? gomg..
Day 65.
A whole chunk of today's reading was on the laws of murder, and what will happen to a person if he kills a person with a killing intent or accidentally.. Learnt that there are such people called avengers who go after the murderer to kill him.. Then because of these murder cases, refuge cities were to be set up, to protect the people who accidentally killed somebody and had to run into refuge in order to not get killed by the avenger of the blood. Just a whole chunk on the different types of killing people, and the various actions which are to be taken and the dfferent outcomes.. These were their laws back then, and now we have our own set of new laws, so we don't follow those laws anymore. After that, there's a whole chapter in Dueteronomy 4 which talks about Moses exhortation of obedience to the Israelites.. The main point being that if we are obedient, we will be blessed. But if we aren't, we will get punished.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
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rawrrr.. and the battle rages on..
Day 64.
Ok so today i read about the allotment of land for the different tribes of Israel as they are about to enter into the promise land! Each tribe got a different amount of land, and the type of land they received were different as well.. they were given the land based on their need of use and i guess other factors which only God knows. This reminded me that each and everyone of us has been allocated with certain gifts and skills that only we have, and that is what makes us unique. These talents were given to us by God, and was decided by God, so we couldn't choose to be this person or choose to have this certain skill. God gave us these gifts because He knew that this would be the best for us, and would also be the best for us on this path that God has already planned out for us. Each one of us has been called to be something by God, and what we have been called to is the divine plan that God had for us right before we were born. So in order to fully live the life God wants us to live, and to be the best that we can be, we have to realize that we have been given certain gifts that not everyone has, and that is what makes us special. Though sometimes we see certain talents/gifts in others that we want, we have to realize that God has given us these gifts we have for a reason, and not others for a reason as well. So may we serve God to the best of what we have, and know that what we have is given from God and is more than enough for us to be successful in God.
I know who i am, i know who i am.. I know who i am, I am Yours, I am Yours..
Friday, September 5, 2008
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I found worship tonight really good, it felt different in a good sense. I remember being really really tired before worship, and also had this minor headache which was annoying..anyway at the end of worship, everything became good! I wasn't feeling tired any more, my eye's weren't killing me, and my headache was completely gone! So praise God! It felt as though worship sort of grew a level! But it might just be me since i haven't really been in the congregation worshipping lately. Then it was just really encouraging to see how God is changing the lives of so many people in China, and how He works by changing the most unchangeable of people. The greater the change in people, the greater the glory of God is revealed. It was also really touching how so many people just trusted in God and always just prayed to Him at all times. Whenever they had a problem, or a need, the first thing they would do is to pray, and God always answers them without fail! What impressed me was that some of their worship services were so simple and plain, and that they didn't have any instruments besides their voice, but at the same time still have such powerful and energetic worship! Makes me wonder if we removed all the instruments at church one day and we just had to worship with our voices alone, would be be as excited and as joyful as them?
Day 63.
Well now i'm at the second generation of Israelites, where almost all of the first generation people that were brought out of Egypt had died(i think..). So now Moses is leading the second generation to enter into the promise land, but first of course in order to take possesion of the land, they have to defeat all the enemies that are in their way. Anyway, after defeating some of their enemies, the Rueybenites and Gadites see that some of the land is good for livestock, and since they have lots of livestock they wanted to know if they can have those pieces of land. However when they asked Moses, he eneded up reproving them because they are almost about tto enter into the promise land(which is Canaan i think..), but yet they wanted to stay behind in some other and instead. By doing that, they would just be repeating what the previous generation did which made God angry and cursed them all.
So anyway the question is this: Are we like the Israelites when they had the promise land in sight, which was God's best for them, instead of moving into it, do we continue to remain at the current side we're in? Are we content with where we're at? And are we settling for less than God's best for us?
Thursday, September 4, 2008
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Lord I thirst for You
There is no one else who satisfies
My soul, it longs for You
Like the deer panting for the water
Now, I wait for You
Take me to Your courts of glory
Fall upon me Lord
Give me strength to help me stand
In this dry & weary land How we need the river
How we need the rain
Living water flow to us again, we pray
Shower down Your glory
Shower down Your grace
Let your Holy Presence fill this place
Day 62.
Read about the different kinds of offerings again today.. felt like i've read it at least 3-4 times about them already.. All these commands on how the Israelites should do their different types of offerings like sin offering or burnt offering must be really important, since they are talked about so many times in the old testament. Unless the way they do it changes all the time.. But basically it's usually a really young unblemished animal like a goat, with some fine flour mixed with oil. The whole idea would be that the offering would be pleasing aroma to God, so that it will be acceptable to Him. So for us in the same way, even though we don't give these kinds of offerings these days, our act of offering would be when we worship God, or when we live our lives. These are our acts of offerings, and as we offer it up to God, we have to make sure that our offerings would be pleasing and acceptable to Him. So when we are living our lives for God and worshipping Him, we have to give it our very best, because we need to realise who we're offering it up to! For He alone is worthy.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
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argh so many hurting people in this world that we don't even know of..how can we help them when we can't even help those that are close to us? Remembering what one of the speakers from the hillsong conference said, some of the people that walk though our church doors, we may never see them again, so we only have that one chance to share with them the good news of Jesus Christ.(what the speaker was saying was something along the lines of them commiting suicide and never returning anymore) There's a whole generation of hurting people, especially kids, who don't even know about God, and His great love that He has for them. And it is our duty to bring the good news to them and pull them out of the pit their in! If we don't, no one else will, and they will end up living in pain, misery, and sffering for the rest of their eternal lives. To feel alone, and not feel any love, to not to who to call out in their time of need..that is a very scary feeling that not many people know of, but yet at the same time, there are many people all over the world who feel like that everyday.. We need to have a heart of compassion!!
A really sweet children's church song that i got taught when i was young, it didn't really mean much to me then, but as i grew up this song kept on coming back to me in my mind whenever i was in trouble. The words stuck with me in my head, and i literally grew up relying on this song. If i get the chance i would definitely teach this song the next time in children's church, because i know this song made me to believe that prayers do work.
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Have you ever talked to God above
Tell Him that you need a friend to love
Pray in Jesus name believing that God answers prayer
You can whisper in a crowd to Him
You can cry when you're alone to Him
You don't have to pray out loud to Him
He knows Your thoughts
Find the answer in His word it's true
You'll be strong because He walks with you
By His faithfullness He'll change you too
God answers prayer
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Never underestimate the power of prayer.
Day 61.
The whole first generation of Israelites died in the wilderness and never got to enter the promise land that was meant for them because they disobyed God. Disobience is sin.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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Yet to those who received Him
Who believed in His name
He gave the right to be, children God
I will stand on this promise
I will trust in His name
I know for sure that Jesus will be with me everyday.
Day 60.
One of the subtitles for today's passage was: Balaam's ass talks. haha.. It's just as the title says, and in Numbers 22, Balaam's donkey talks! The amazing thing is that when the donkey opened itt's mouth to speak, Balaam wasn't shocked or anything and just replied to it like he was having a normal conversation with a normal person. If i see a donkey or animal talk, i'll most probably flip and faint right on the spot..having being able to experience such a thing is just something so crazy that my mind cannot imagine. But then again, God is the God of the impossible, and through Him all things are possible! So if God really wanted to speak to me through an animal, i will not limit God to what He wants to say to me haha.. The one thing i was confused is that in Numbers 22:20, God told Balaam to go and follow the messengers that were sent, but then in v22 it says God's anger was aroused because Balaam went..
20 And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you—that you shall do.” 21 So Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.
22 Then God’s anger was aroused because he went, and the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him. And he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.
Hmm that confused me for abit.. But anyway, another cool thing was when Balak summoned Balaam to curse the Israelites(God's chosen people), Balaam ended up blessing them all three times! Lesson learnt, if we are blessed by God, whenever our enemies try to curse us, we will get blessed instead!
Lord, You are more precious than silver
Lord, You are more costly than gold
Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds
And nothing i desire compares with You.
God, I prayed for a friend, and You gave me the best friends anyone could ever ask for. I prayed for love, and You showered me with Your love through the people You've placed in my life. I prayed for a heart of flesh, one that would feel for others, and You gave me a heart that just can't stop crying and hurting. I just want to thank You LORD for answering my prayers, and for being so real in my life.
And i now pray that You help to be a blessing to those around me, and that i would be able to show them the love, care, and concern that You've showed me. That i would not disappoint them, or hurt them in anyway, and that i would bring Your joy into their lives. LORD may You use me to especially lift up and strengthen the people who love me, and those whom i love too. May i be the one who doesn't always need to be looked after and cared for by others, but instead be the one who looks out and cares for all those around me. LORD I don't want to be that useless guy who ends up being a burden, but instead may i be something of worth, and have something inside of me to offer. May i be wasted, so that Your glory be tasted.
LORD , I just want to fall at Your feet and weep for all You've done in my life. Thank You God.
Day 59.
John 3:14-15
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
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