The Healing hand of God.

It may not be a huge testimony But I thought God should still get the Honour and Glory!

Yeows sprained his ankle while playing basketball with me yesterday. And unfortunately I was part of the cause. He landed on my leg and he got hurt. We were told by the Chinese Sinseh that there was a 50% of a fracture and so we went to TTSH A&E. That was where I got the impression to pray for him. I did and I thank God that it was just a sprain and should heal within a week.

I just want to thank God.

Furthermore, I think God deserves my praise for being there for me at my darkest hours. He have been healing me and helping me cope with all that is going on with my life. I just want to thank YOU LORD!!!

Lord I pray that your presence be ever stronger in my life. I want to live for you and be able to live out your presence in my life. I recognize that I am imperfect and am a work in progress under You. I hope that you would continue to show me your presence more strongly and tangibly in my life. In Jesus' Name, I thank you!

Self discovery

Today I had to go through and plan for AOP. It's something I haven't done for a very long time. In fact I seldom had much practice on it so was pretty nervous and anxious. What made it memorable was how 'professional' we were. I got to agree I was not really putting alot of effort but did try. I felt like I did most or all the work. Not true but thats how I felt. In any case I got humiliated too cause of the poor standard which I thought wasn't my fault. There was a moment that I tried to defend myself and then I caught myself. I guess its an image we all want to protray but its not as easy as it is. Protraying the image we want? ... Its just impossible. If some of us had a choice, I guess we wont be seen by others like how we are. But its a true eye opener to have some self discovery and at the same time exposure. I have so much more to learn and develop. More like you JESUS! =)

Appreciation

How often to we feel unappreciated, not recognized and simply ignored? I bet its something that happens to everyone at some point of time.

The truth is this people are selfish and we look out for ourselves and we yearn for appreciation of ourselves but in doing so we focus on ourselves and as such we are unable to appreciate others around us.

The fact that we need to feel appreciated is because it is what we base our self worth on. We need validation from others and when others appreciate us, we feel good and know we are valued. But like I've mentioned above, human kinds are selfish, few and seldom do we get appreciated or recognized for our efforts. Hence the need for self validation. we got to recognize our own efforts and encourage ourselves. Knowing within our hearts of heart itself that we have done the right thing, done the best that we can, should be encouragement enough to push us in the right direction even if people do not give us a pat on the back.

I dont know what you would gather from this but always do the right thing despite not being appreciated is something that I thought is of great value. of course there might be many other thoughts on these idea but lets keep it short. =)

LUKE 18:9-14

This week's Manna, we shared on Luke 18:9-14.

Luke 18:9-14 (New International Version, ©2011)

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

We're focusing on the importance of prayer this month and this week the idea is our attitude and how we should pray. This verse speaks loudly to me cause pride has always been a great hurdle in my life and self righteousness is definitely part of who I am now. I have to confess and I pray that as I write and consciously work on seeking the Lord and His righteousness, my pride and self righteousness will be replaced with His humility and grace =)

I dont know how many of you see it this way but do you ever watch the news, read the news paper about someone who have created a heinous crime and we get disgusted at the person and we think to ourselves we're better then him/her? I confess that I do. In fact, day to day, I make comparisons with others or even sins of others and tell myself that I didn't commit a sin greater then he/she did hence making me more righteous. It's subconscious but I know this delusion and falsehood resides in my mind. Having read this passage, the Lord expose this and is showing me what I also know and have read in the Bible.

Paul clearly states that(let me find the verses and get back)

1) There is no one more righteous then the other,

2) Our righteousness is a gift and was never by our works so how could we say/think we are more righteous then anyone else,

3) We are all equal in that we have all fallen short of His glory.

4) If you have sinned, you have sinned, it doesn't matter what sin.

This is where humility comes in. Noticed that if we have believed what Paul have taught then we could never pray the prayer that the Pharisee pray.

1) We will never put others down cause we should/will lift them up in love

2) Comparisons like that should never be made about how one is more righteous

3) He justify himself by his deeds but the truth is our righteousness is the gift of GOD. Not by works but by faith.

Notice that Jesus is speaking to people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and view others with contempt. What can I say more? Lets consciously work on not falling into this group. Let our trust be in the Lord on what He have done, not what we have done. Let us also uphold one another especially in the body of Christ instead of looking down on anyone.

Yesterday Kor Mark also made a point about how we ought to treat others who persecute us. True humility would not just be us being able to see others who have not sinned against us as equals but to even those who have. Humility is practiced when we forgive and when we pray for those who persecute you. When we are able to see those that have failed or sin as equals is one stage/level of learning humility. the next stage/level is when you are still able to see them a equals and love them, praying and forgiving when they persecute/sin against you.

Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner! I admit that I have failed You in so many ways but yet Your amazing grace and love ever envelops and surround me, tugging at my heart to recognize that You still desire for me to be in Your Kingdom, to be Your son, your friend... Father I recognize that I have done nothing to deserve what you have given me and that nothing I do can ever justify or made right what I did wrong. It is only by the Blood of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus! His righteousness is what cloths us and allow us to commune with you! Lord teach us your people humility and that we might exemplify true humility to this world that trust in themselves. What an important value humility is. HUMBLE ME LORD!

A tough week

Its been an unfruitful week and to think Pst just preached on being fruitful and not busy. Wasn't either of them. Had somehow been procrastinating and putting off what I can do now till later, constantly finding excuses and so on. Wonder what happened to the initiative and the passion for Life and God. Lord refresh and light up that fire within me.

There are however a few thoughts that I thought I'll share.

What do you think about vulgarities/profanities?

Sounds really controversial now and well even if it does I think its something that's highly prevalent in our society and unfortunately in the Armed Forces no matter which nation you're in. Generally perceived as something 'wrong' and should be avoided, some have taken all liberty with 'them'. Is there really a need for such crude language?

Personally I think in all aspects of life it is something to be avoided. There are no benefits to it and only serves to 'pollute' the minds of young people and giving permission to our burst of anger.

Anger is highly associated with them and I think most who use profanities have poor self mastery hence unable to control their mouth and emotions.

The Bible also clearly states, how can we with our mouth curse and praise at the same time? So it seems pretty clear there is no case and space for vulgarities.

HOWEVER with all that said, may I share an experience?

I have used the 'F' word before and under a circumstance that I thought reasonable and perhaps why the existant of profanities. It happened like this:

We were conducting an exercise and live rounds were used. It was dangerous and safety was emphasized to trainees that their technical handling and their obedience in following orders is paramount to not causing freak accidents.

It so happened that there was this trainee that I was watching over that not only did not handle his weapon properly but also pose a danger of his cadet. I was trying to be patient and made certain that he resolved the problem and try to follow instructions when he commit the same mistake again. I gave it to him this time not wanting to compromise on the seriousness of the situation. It was so loud and as I was one that have been known never to use vulgarities, my colleagues joked that the live firing momentarily seized when I had used it on the trainee.

The point I'm trying to make here is not to justify myself but to say that the creation for vulgarities probably have a cause and I deeply believe that it is so prevalent in the military because of the context. A simple vulgarity can easily replaced many words to convey the seriousness and the significance of the mistake especially in the case of lives. To the civilian and the ladies, perhaps this might be foreign and distant but when the timing arises and circumstances do not allow us time to explain or to convey our anger/displeasure, vulgarities seem to work and have proven to work. The stress that it imposes help to reinforce what we were trying to say simply with a vulgarity.

Just to say again that I am not encouraging the use of vulgarities nor advocating their use. But to show that perhaps it can serve its purpose for what it was created for. That it is perhaps understandable for the use of it in certain circumstance. Perhaps I am shortsighted and have missed out other considerations but in all I want to say is, lets try not to use it. Lets find ways to replace them and if possible to eradicate them. Use it less often so that when it is used, people know you mean business. =p

Would sure love to hear comments and remarks on this somewhat controversial subject.

Lord show us what we can do with our lives, our deeds and words. Discipline in the use of our mouth for your praise is important and that we should never curse with it. So we dont curse the person but the action just as we dont hate the person but the action? Lord teach me and guide me. I am willing to obey if you would simply say yes or no? Or perhaps you're telling us there are certain things that you dont really mind and this is one of them? I doubt so, so speak and I believe your people will listen. =)

On duty with Joshua again

I'm on duty today and guess what with Joshua again. =) sure reminds me of the time that we were doing duty together and the things we talked about. God's divine apoointment I must say.

Unlike the other time, today I was talking to someone else instead about the things of God. through SMS which ended up rather badly so we decided to talk when we meet to address the issue.

Did I hear you ask what the issue is about? Well it started like this:
Was 911 the judgement of God?
Did God allow the killings and the death of all that took place in the wars?
Well I think the question is one that asks aloud DID GOD ALLOW ALL THE BAD THINGS THAT HAPPENED?

Can you take the truth? There's only 2 options to this questions and I will let you decide.
1) Yes He allowed it.
Or
2) Nope, He did not allow it and it still happened anyway.

Lets look at 1), So He allowed it? Sounds absurb that a Good God would allow murder, terrorism, war, rape, abuse, the list goes on even at this very minute as I type, to happen right? But what if I told you all this is due to Free Will? Freedom of choice? Man's doing. The simple truth. An excuse?

2) God should be all powerful, no? So if He did not allow it how did it happen? Powerless God still a God? Sovereign? definitely not then since He got no power as to what happen to us or in this world. So whose controlling all that and allowing them to happen? Shouldn't that (supposedly bad) someone be God instead?

You know we read about Job, a biblical character that was tested by God and Satan. God allowed it. if He chose all this things to happen, are you treating Him as God or are you just expecting yourself to be treated like a god?

Its late, I'll continue tml =)

A fruitful night

Yesterday night, I went to MDIS near Commonwealth to sign up for a Bio Medical degree programme offered by them. On my way there, I thought to myself why not get Ford out to have dinner together since he lives there and his studying Bio too. And so I did. He accepted readily and we went somewhere near his place to have dinner.

After the Seminar at MDIS, we decided to ask Kor Mark to come down and just chill and talk. Boy did we talk. The 3 of us together just talking and sharing. I thought it was a time well spent and really helped encouraged me to stay my course and press on in God. Its as my previous posts cries out, we may never understand why things happen the way it did. Our duty is to press on in Him and continue to seek Him. He is not just God of the good times but the bad times too and you know what it is in the bad times He will show Himself ever more strongly. Work your miracle Lord in the hearts of those that need it. Expansion from the inside out you say, Lord take our hearts!

We had such a good time, it was about 10 plus that we realized it late before we stopped. It so happened that yesterday was ladies night so I met Aunt Jenny and went back together. I think we both thank God for the company and encouragement. =) So yup a fruitful night!