Kind of overwhelmed the past 2-3 weeks, and I forsee for awhile more…. With 11 sheeps, many pastoral issues & people’s needs to take care of, preparing many lessons, and an increasingly heavy workload, it seems I’m at work 24h. Even when I’m in bed I’m pondering over issues. Lacking in brain juice and migraines coming back ;o It’s no wonder I’m really looking forward to the Kuching leadership conference and church camp!!!!!!!! But in the mean time, i'm really desperately praying for God to do what i can't do with my human strength :)
The cool thing is I know why I’m doing what I’m doing! :) I can persevere on because it is not “a chasing of the wind”. I can persevere on because of my convictions (not preferences) ;o I can persevere on because I see the value and eternal significance. I can persevere on because lives are changed to be filled with love, joy, peace, confidence and security with every little extra effort I put in. Thank God for Him as He is the one who refreshes me and empowers me with His Spirit!
Through the busy-ness, God has been good to me of course! He has taught & revealed new things to me; He blessed me with Durians(!!!) enough to last me a week (coz’ my dad bought about 40 durians one shot – not his record number tho); He blessed me with words of encouragement from my sheeps; He blessed me with fellowship with 2 of my soul-friends ;o
Indeed, friends who have same convictions with you are exceedingly rare to come by. With the same convictions, the conversations touch the soul and you’re free to express anything and everything; all your dreams & desires! So these 2 friends of mine are two of the greatest blessings in my life. What could I do without them!!! I LOVE YOU Pris & Shirls! J
YEAH! It's the JEDI leaders celebration dinner! 2 weekends ago, we celebrated the goodness of God in the group and our individual lives in the last 4 months. There's really tooooooo much to Thank God for that it's un-countable! You can visit our JEDI blog for the recent testimonies & activities :)
Other than individual breakthroughs & blessings, the group saw 7 precious friends taking the step of faith to know Jesus personally, and we really celebrated the Faithfulness of God in healing James' mum! It was definitely the first time the group united in prayers, visiting every lunch & dinner, to pray for the mum to recover from stroke when the doctors had already given up hope on her life. It sure boosted the faith of everyone and we saw God's word to be true as we claimed His promises too :)
This weekend we had a wonderful dinner with Justin, our brother-in-Christ who has been with us for the past few months too. Thank God for his love for Christ and we are praying for God to grant him an extension to continue working in S'pore & to grow with us! Thanks Justin! You've been a great encouragement and blessing to CN & me!
CN & I visited a new English pub recently too :) It has great ambience, fish & chips & burger! We also had Indian buffet one night to learn more about Indian food ;o We're trying to be all things to all man, to be able to relate to people of more cultures :)
i see the lives of some christians, some are even pretty close to me... and i find myself asking them this question in my heart "Isn't God's love enough for you?"
i never say it out though, coz' i fear how they would view the question. it is a deeper question than it seems. it has repercusssions.
It's a question God asked me before in one of the darkest moments in my life. When i was thoroughly broken-hearted and asked God "WHY?" a thousand times over. I was on my knees all the time, in tears before God; but i knew i had also sinned by trying to solve the situation by my own strength & way. I was too overwhelmed in my lost that I couldn't wait for God to solve it. "What if God wants you to wait longer and solve the situation in His time? What if He wants you to have something else? Another outcome/ result?" the devil in my mind would ask me that and persuade me to take matters into my own hands. I prayed to God all the time for strength & mercy, yet i also took actions i knew so well that were displeasing to Him. One day, in His great love & mercy, God spoke to someone about me... and the words for me were "My Love Is Sufficient..."
Yes... That was one of the biggest lesson in my life... To learn that God sees and KNOWS every single struggle i go through... I still struggled with solving the situation on my own, but with His words resounding again and again in my mind, i knew i had to let go and let God...How could i still go on doing things my way when He had already spoken!?!?! I couldn't... and i let go gradually... The situation eventually turned out the way i prayed for, but that i knew, was really because of His great love & mercy for me and NOTHING else... By that time, i had already learnt the lesson that because of His love, He could have resolved the situation in another way and it would still have been the best for me. Just that while going through the tough, seemingly non-ideal situation, i did not want any other outcome, and forgot that His love is sufficient.
His Love IS Sufficient...
How i wished Christians would all understand this without going through the struggle i did, without sinning against God first by doing things their own way first.
His Love IS Sufficient...
for you to trust in His timing for the best partner for your life
for you to trust in His providence of what you need materially for your life
for you to trust that the health & salvation of you & your loved ones are in His good hands
for you to break habits that are destroying you from receiving life to the fullest He has planned for you
for you to live a great, exciting, fun, full, purposeful LIFE
and much more...
I see Christians around me who know in their heads that Jesus has bought their lives, cleansed their sins, that they may have a personal relationship with God and a life free from the bondage of sin & evil, at a HUGE price. Yet, they still go about their daily lives not having this truth in their hearts. It's just an information, not a truth engraved in their hearts and minds yet. Many Christians still allow the worldly values to rule their speech, actions, and thoughts.
Many women still try to find their worth & identity by how others view them/ treat them, so their lives & actions are swayed by the views of others.
Men & women alike, still find it difficult to trust that the God who created every single one of us, will give them His best life partner in His timing. They try their utmost to stay with someone who's not the best for them, or occupy their time thinking of how to attract the opposite gender to them. In the end, they miss the partner who can love them in God's love, and a partnership that spurs one another to grow & fulfil one another's purpose in God.
Men & women alike, still chase after the things of the world & sell their lives to their work in fear that they will not have what the world says we need to have. They forgot that God has already said in His word "do not worry", He who created the food chain, who painted the world all its beauty, who provides for all the birds & beasts, will NEVER let His beloved people be in lack. They forget that fame in the world's eyes is worthless in His.
Men & women alike, forget that God has a specific purpose for each and everyone of us when He created us. So we just go with the flow of the world, enjoying the parties & pleasures of the world, or being addicted to life-damaging activities, wasting away precious time-every second, minute, day- that God had planned for us to steward well & purposefully.
Many Christians know in their heads, how they should life their lives. Yet when it comes to their daily lives, they often choose to stay in their comfort zones. When it comes down to decisions, it's hard to make one that counts for Christ. Because deep in their hearts, they still do not believe that His love is enough.
My prayer today & everyday:" God, help me to constantly remember Your love is enough for me. That i may make even the smallest decision of how to spend $2/$5/$10 wisely; that i may make even the smallest decision of how to spend my time at work & my evenings after work for You; that i may put Your Word into practice instead of doing things my way. May those who know You as their Lord & Saviour, remember in their heads and hearts, that YOUR LOVE IS SUFFICIENT through it ALL..."
I think you can see if someone is mature (whether in-Christ or not) by observing the person’s ability to give thanks, and frequency in giving thanks.
I’m sure no one likes being around negative people who tend to complain (or speak negatively) more than give thanks. Yet more often than not, we become that unpleasant person to be with. I thank God that I was brought up in a family where we were taught to give thanks and to pause to think before we complain. Of course, after knowing Christ, it helped me to see things in a much more positive perspective too. Most importantly, I learnt to pause to see things through God’s perspectives instead of mine.
There are too many advantages to the habit of giving thanks, but one I can immediately think of, is that I become more God conscious and others-conscious instead of self-conscious or self-centred.
“Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thes 5:17-18
We go through all kinds of “bad” (bad in inverted commas because others may not see it as bad) things everyday. You may complain at the bus driver being slow; or complain that someone who came later, but stood a few metres before you, caught the cab instead; or complain at why things are so expensive; or complain why you’re not healed; or complain at your boss/ colleague giving you a hard time; or complain at your friends/ family not being understanding; or complain that your caregroup doesn’t care enough for you; or complain that you have bad leaders; or complain that you are in an imperfect church/ country; or you tend to think that you can do a better job than others/ think you are better than others… and the list goes on almost forever…
YET I choose, to trust in my God.
But what does it have to do with God???
Everything. I choose to trust that He allowed unpleasant things to happen in my life for a reason – to train my inner being. He may or may not change my circumstances/ situation after I pray. But for sure, when I pray, He changes my inner attitudes - To trust that everything will be beautiful in His time. To see the reasons why He allowed me to go through the unpleasant times. To see how ugly I am inside myself, that I shouldn’t be pointing fingers at others when I’m imperfect myself.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Eccl 3:11
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Luke 6:41
I can choose to see that: driving slowly is for the safety of the passengers; the cab passenger before me could be rushing to an emergency; I cannot change the prices of things, but I can learn to be more prudent and be a better steward of the money God has given me; I may not be healed, but I can learn to overcome the limitations and bring glory to God when I don’t let physical limitation become a spiritual/ lifelong limitation; I may have terrible colleagues & boss, but I should not let them dictate my spirit and instead influence them with mine!; I may not have perfect family/ friends/ caregroup, but I’m not much better myself. I should thank them for bearing with me and take steps to be a better family member/ friend myself; I may not have perfect leaders, but God appointed them there and not me, because He knows I wouldn’t be able to make such huge sacrifices slogging for His people and being in the front line of complaints & flaming arrows from human & devil.
And ya, I no longer think that I can do a better job than others, because God knows what He is doing – He knows what I’m able to do (better than I know myself), and He will place me/ whomever He deems fit to be whatever position it is, at whatever time He deems fit too. I just need to do what He has called me to at this & every point in time. He rewards the faithful & pure-at-heart.
Ya… I am thankful for everything… and I’m glad I have this ability to.
I truly believe that people who wants to be a great vessel for God, and be a great blessing to others, will have to learn the lesson of giving thanks, in having full faith & trust in our God who is in control. When things go wrong in your life, ask what God wants to teach you, instead of complaining/ judging first.
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Cor 10:13
“But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver…” Mal 3:2-3
If it’s a sin by others, trust that God is the ultimate judge and allowed it to happen to you. You can grow through it by not making the same mistakes as them, and yes, I’ve seen that many times in my life! I know God put me under some pretty tough people to work with, so that I learn not to be like them in certain areas, to be a better leader to my people. On the other hand, many times we complain because we point fingers at others instead of seeing how imperfect we are ourselves, or failed to see that it was God who allowed so. In this case, we have to learn to change from the inside out first – to submit our wants, desires, preferences into God’s hands, and see the big difference it does to us & the people around us!
I’ve grown much & enjoy the fruit of the spirit much more in my life as I learn to submit to God’s work in my life - Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Self-Control. May you experience the love, joy & peace much more in your life too!
yup i've sinned. really convicted by God about it. done something i should not have done; did not do something i should have done; have not been what God would want me to be at work. even though everything seems ok to everyone else, even my boss, i know what i've sinned in. i can't fool God. God cannot be mocked.
so.... i repent... and may God's mercy and grace be upon me to help me change. i should, i have to, and i must change. so that evil will no longer have a hold on me. amen...
LIFE
Jesus my endless love
You are so beautiful
For Your love has saved me
With all I am I will honour You
You gave it all for me
Now I'm Yours
(Chorus)
So I'm here to say that I'm living my life for the One above the heavens
The One whose Son was crucified for me
I'm giving my life for the Son who bled to save us
I want the world to see this love in me
Jesus strength of my heart
Your love so beautiful
Your passion's my safety
In gentleness You have healed my heart
And captured me with Your love
Now I'm Yours
(Bridge)
I'll live my life in love with You
You're all I really want in this world (x3)
I'll live my life in love with You
You're all I want
