10 April 2011
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.”
How fitting the above paragraph describes our present time, though the writer penned them nearly a century ago in his novel.
There are great opportunities for faith proclamation and great resistance against spirituality. There are wonderful possibilities of hope and yet enormous apathy and indifference. Ours indeed is the best of times and the worst of times.
The church living in our age and time needs the Holy Spirit. Discernment of God’s will require that we grow toward spiritual maturity. To be filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit and live in the Spirit must be our life aim and goal as a church of disciples.
A redeemed lifestyle starts with a renewed mind. A renewed mind has the mind of Christ which results in kingdom-fuelled purpose. May the Holy Spirit enable us to understand our times and pray in all earnest conviction, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
All things Work for the good - Rom 8:28
After resisting for a week, my body finally caved in, and the fever came last night. I thought it was just spring allergy!
With my husband away, i was left alone juggling home and church (with my two teenage sons)- i finally feel guilt-free lying on my bed and typing this. Spent some time to pray and started looking back my life (just the past few weeks...) and i remember this -
A very wise friend sent me this a while back when i was going through tough times and i want to share this with you -
"Romans 8:28 says “all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.” Notice, it says all things. I explain it to the students this way. You all like to eat cake, especially homemade. What if I said, here is some flour, eat it. You would not enjoy it. Vanilla by itself is not pleasant. We don’t eat just a big lump of butter. However, if I mix it all together and make a delicious cake out of it, you all like it. When God says all things He means just that—all things, the good, the bad, the ugly. God is working out His purposes in our lives. Some things are dry and tasteless like flour, some are bitter like vanilla, some are not very nice like a big lump of butter or a couple of raw eggs but together they make a beautiful life if we let God have His way.
God will never allow more in your life than you can handle with Him.
God is more interested in who you are becoming. He will work His will no matter the outcome of the meeting. You already have victory in Christ. Whatever happens accept it as from the Lord. He is there with you. Even if it turns out bad, believe this is God’s plan for you right now. He will lead you out, but first He will lead you through."
I am praying for you. Take courage. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. God will have the glory, at least in your life. That is all you need concern yourself with. The others are responsible for their own actions and reactions. Jesus went through all this and more for you.
Part of this is the fellowship of suffering the Bible talks about in Philippians 3:10. Suffering is never pleasant but it is needful."
Friends (esp my 18 special friends on this blog), as i lay in bed today nursing my cold, i will pray for you.
With my husband away, i was left alone juggling home and church (with my two teenage sons)- i finally feel guilt-free lying on my bed and typing this. Spent some time to pray and started looking back my life (just the past few weeks...) and i remember this -
A very wise friend sent me this a while back when i was going through tough times and i want to share this with you -
"Romans 8:28 says “all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.” Notice, it says all things. I explain it to the students this way. You all like to eat cake, especially homemade. What if I said, here is some flour, eat it. You would not enjoy it. Vanilla by itself is not pleasant. We don’t eat just a big lump of butter. However, if I mix it all together and make a delicious cake out of it, you all like it. When God says all things He means just that—all things, the good, the bad, the ugly. God is working out His purposes in our lives. Some things are dry and tasteless like flour, some are bitter like vanilla, some are not very nice like a big lump of butter or a couple of raw eggs but together they make a beautiful life if we let God have His way.
God will never allow more in your life than you can handle with Him.
God is more interested in who you are becoming. He will work His will no matter the outcome of the meeting. You already have victory in Christ. Whatever happens accept it as from the Lord. He is there with you. Even if it turns out bad, believe this is God’s plan for you right now. He will lead you out, but first He will lead you through."
I am praying for you. Take courage. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. God will have the glory, at least in your life. That is all you need concern yourself with. The others are responsible for their own actions and reactions. Jesus went through all this and more for you.
Part of this is the fellowship of suffering the Bible talks about in Philippians 3:10. Suffering is never pleasant but it is needful."
Friends (esp my 18 special friends on this blog), as i lay in bed today nursing my cold, i will pray for you.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.
Read Jeremiah 45
Jeremiah 45:5
Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them.
When God comes to us, all our lofty dreams and plans have to be put aside. They have to be surrendered to the Lord. But here Baruch was perhaps merely asking for relief and a little creature comfort? Are those great things? Those I thought were legitimate things….
What Baruch was suffering from was perhaps a sense of self-pity and blaming God for adding to his pain instead of relieving his anguish. His thoughts were on himself and turned inward.
What does it mean to seek? To seek something is to look out, search for, hunt and track it down. It is intense, deliberate and totally consuming. If I am seeking my things, then I cannot be seeking God’s kingdom.
God knows that we have needs for things, for comfort and relief. But he wants us to focus on Him.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
God must be our first and our main passion. Other than God, everything else we run after are the great things for ourselves.
Jeremiah 45:5
Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them.
When God comes to us, all our lofty dreams and plans have to be put aside. They have to be surrendered to the Lord. But here Baruch was perhaps merely asking for relief and a little creature comfort? Are those great things? Those I thought were legitimate things….
What Baruch was suffering from was perhaps a sense of self-pity and blaming God for adding to his pain instead of relieving his anguish. His thoughts were on himself and turned inward.
What does it mean to seek? To seek something is to look out, search for, hunt and track it down. It is intense, deliberate and totally consuming. If I am seeking my things, then I cannot be seeking God’s kingdom.
God knows that we have needs for things, for comfort and relief. But he wants us to focus on Him.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
God must be our first and our main passion. Other than God, everything else we run after are the great things for ourselves.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Taking God's Presence for Granted
Read Judges 16
Judges 16:20
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
How easy it is for us to take God for granted.
Samson had great strength. It was freely bestowed upon him not because he was better than others. God had ear-marked him for greatness. He was raised carefully but never took responsibility and ownership of his calling.
He squandered and despised his call by doing things according to his carnal appetites. Samson was a man who lived for himself to satisfy his own desires. His frivolous attitude toward God led him to think that his supernatural strength came from himself.
“I’ll go out as before and shake myself free”. There are two mistakes in Samson’s beliefs.
First, he presumed that things will never change. Complacency and a false sense of control of our lives is the first sign of backsliding in our hearts. We become so confident of how things will be and have a false sense of how things should be that we forget that we are not God.
Second, he believed that he could shake himself free. We cannot free ourselves on our own. We cannot save ourselves. We can never shake ourselves free. Only Jesus can. Our greatest enemy is not others, circumstances or the world. Our greatest enemy is our own sinful self. Satan knows that if He can get us to focus on ourselves, he has defeated us.
It is interesting that Samson only prayed after he realized that God had left him (Judges 16:28). May it never be to us to learn to call on God only when we discover that we have left Him out of our lives.
Psalm 51:11-12
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Judges 16:20
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
How easy it is for us to take God for granted.
Samson had great strength. It was freely bestowed upon him not because he was better than others. God had ear-marked him for greatness. He was raised carefully but never took responsibility and ownership of his calling.
He squandered and despised his call by doing things according to his carnal appetites. Samson was a man who lived for himself to satisfy his own desires. His frivolous attitude toward God led him to think that his supernatural strength came from himself.
“I’ll go out as before and shake myself free”. There are two mistakes in Samson’s beliefs.
First, he presumed that things will never change. Complacency and a false sense of control of our lives is the first sign of backsliding in our hearts. We become so confident of how things will be and have a false sense of how things should be that we forget that we are not God.
Second, he believed that he could shake himself free. We cannot free ourselves on our own. We cannot save ourselves. We can never shake ourselves free. Only Jesus can. Our greatest enemy is not others, circumstances or the world. Our greatest enemy is our own sinful self. Satan knows that if He can get us to focus on ourselves, he has defeated us.
It is interesting that Samson only prayed after he realized that God had left him (Judges 16:28). May it never be to us to learn to call on God only when we discover that we have left Him out of our lives.
Psalm 51:11-12
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Serving God with what we have
Luke 8:1-3
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
The world is full of unsung and overlooked heroes. The female gender was despised during Jesus’ days. They were treated as properties, testimonies inadmissible and had no status or power.
Yet they were ardent contributors and supporters of Jesus’ ministry.
“They support them (including the Twelve Disciples, i.e.) out of their own means.”
There are no limitations in serving the Lord.
You don’t have to be rich to serve God. Women in Jesus’ time certainly had no inheritance but they supported him for the last 3 years.
You don’t have to have power and means to be involved in God’s kingdom. They were not prominent supporters but Jesus had rooms and houses to go in and out because of them,
While there is no qualifications to serve, there is sacrifice in service.
“Out of their own means” was a phrase that signify sacrifice.
You can serve God.
All you need is a grateful, willing and sacrificial heart.
What Jesus accomplished in the three years through their contributions change the world.
So we can change the world.
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
The world is full of unsung and overlooked heroes. The female gender was despised during Jesus’ days. They were treated as properties, testimonies inadmissible and had no status or power.
Yet they were ardent contributors and supporters of Jesus’ ministry.
“They support them (including the Twelve Disciples, i.e.) out of their own means.”
There are no limitations in serving the Lord.
You don’t have to be rich to serve God. Women in Jesus’ time certainly had no inheritance but they supported him for the last 3 years.
You don’t have to have power and means to be involved in God’s kingdom. They were not prominent supporters but Jesus had rooms and houses to go in and out because of them,
While there is no qualifications to serve, there is sacrifice in service.
“Out of their own means” was a phrase that signify sacrifice.
You can serve God.
All you need is a grateful, willing and sacrificial heart.
What Jesus accomplished in the three years through their contributions change the world.
So we can change the world.
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