Carried Along in Time

Instead of only living in time, sometimes it seems as though we are carried along the motion of time. We are hustled from week to week and month to month; bleeding hours and minutes. It is now March 1.

I have had so many points in the last two months to look back and compare my situation this year with the last.

Last birthday, I went to bed quiet; this birthday, I had someone lovely to tenderly care for me, good friends and a sugary cake. I barely registered the 22 candles.

Last recess week I was mostly in hall and had much different company and different routine. This time round, while falling behind on work, I was able to take care of the home environment and get rid of the clutter that had crept up on me as I lived past two decades.

Managed to go to Hakim's to give him a card. Although it was an extension of a long day, it was worth it to convey my love for an important friend on his birthday.

I enjoyed dinner with Agnes' parents, because it's a good opportunity to spend time with them and know them better. I am not looking to prise her away from them, but rather we should be closer and dearer as we go along.

Several things that trouble/ bother me:

• Biblical Christianity or the lack thereof.
• My responsibility at having received the gospel and not sharing the message of salvation with others. Will friends and dear ones say of me, when there is no grace left, "You had light and truth, why did you not share it with us?" 
• How to live:

1. Love the Lord, walk in light, under grace, by faith and in close relationship;

or

2. Love the world & sin, hate governance, shun the Word, abuse grace, live by personal feeling, and having no close relationship with the Lord.

Excerpt

"I know that you are very important to me and that at this point, I cannot imagine how it would be like not having you in my life. The details of your life, how you feel and what you think matter greatly to me. If you are sad or happy, I will be affected, because we are emotionally and I think in more ways than we know, much closer now. I very much want to continue building our relationship in Christ and take it longer than we see at present. It will not be easy; from another perspective it will even be hard. Sometimes I may be discouraged. But when I look at where we are hoping and praying to be at, I am reminded that our faith and love is being built and refined."

Our Lives are Purposed.

I opted to live today very differently and stay home. The purpose was to have some mental clarity, helped by distance from others, and to clock more sleep, and to spend time in prayer so I may be worked on by His Spirit, and to finish the invisible, but tangible list of to-dos.

I made a phone call today to Lim Boon Kai, to rouse him from his sleep with a birthday greeting. I know it is very heartening to have someone remember your birthday. I recognize him as a dear friend, and a loved person in the many phases of my younger life, and very hopefully, my longer adult life. I remember how we were in school together and it is very good to have accumulated a close friend as him.

May every birthday be a landmark, showing much growth and maturity, and very much of God's great blessing in his life.

It took me a while to get into the Word, but there was a very great reward today after I had gone before it, and studied the clear words of Scripture. We are to learn from the Words of Christ Jesus.

I was reminded that the central theme of my life is my labour for Christ and His gospel. This is my life's purpose, to bring glory to His very great Name.

My attitude to this process of life was corrected.

While I am struggling with this life and the troubles that come along with it, I read -

John 14

 ¹ “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”


The Word reminds me to rest my heart and trust fully in Christ Jesus; He is preparing us to dwell with Him forever. He is truthful and faithful, and He will come back to bring us to be with Him. I must not allow this hope to harmed in any way.

We walk on the same way as Christ did, in Him and through Him, also to go to the Father. We are to be reconciled to the Father, our Father.

Christ's Words bring us the full measure of His joy in us. And in preparing His disciples for His death, departure, and ascension, He prayed for them this way,

John 17

¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify^[b] them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.


The disciples received over the Great Commission from the Lord. They were not to be taken or removed from the hostile climate of the world, and instead of being exempted from the human life, they were enabled to do the work for the gospel they had been left with, and were guarded as they were sent out.

Christ Himself said this -

John 12

   ²⁷ “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”

I may not be exempted from life, and it is not right to ask that I be taken out of this time and world. My life is purposed.

In the same attitude of my Lord, while I am troubled and in difficult circumstances, my prayer must be higher and better, to ask God to glorify His Name above my present circumstances.

My labour is for God's glory. I am not to hope that my life can be passed over quickly, but to work for the gospel, that Christ Jesus and other better men have poured out their lives to advance. 


If you are a friend, pray for me, to be wise, loving and faithful to the Lord. That He will make known clearly His will for me in this time and in this life. Your brotherly kindness and love for me is very appreciated!

I will not always have something edifying to share, though I must be careful so my personal expression may not harm the faith of any persons. 

None of this life is easy, but some things are harder than others. I would like to be doing well in all areas or at least give off the projection that I am, but looking like you are doing well uses up too much effort-energy I do not have. 

A year ago today, I was in Hendon Camp, feeling extremely sorrowful because my friends were ORD-ing and I did not have the chance to say goodbye to them because I was in airborne training. I eventually went back to my office on a Sunday and saw their Post-It messages on my wall, bidding me goodbye. 

This means that I have been an Army Regular for over a year, and I look back to wonder if I had made the best/right choice, in staying on with the force. I certainly wondered then, when my friends left service for good. 

I see that I was able to do so many additional things in the later part of the year, beyond the 1 Year 10 Month expiry date, and took on assignments, activities that friends envied. Although my decision-making was not made with complete acknowledgement of the Lord, He has been gracious in my placement and my predicament.  

However, I'm growing surer that everything in this life must be based on Biblical principles. How we live and why we live must be in obedience and conformity to Christ. He has redeemed us from wickedness for Himself. Our lives are not our own independent ones, but lived most to the fullest through submission and trust in our God. 

 

The areas of doubt and vexation are new and heavy, but I need to continually acknowledge that my God has sovereignty over me, and that I must be in line with His Word, and that His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and especially in, on, through my person. 

While I am unsettled and in some distress, I know what to hold on to, and where my strength and my life comes from. My God is trustworthy, even while men may not be believed easily. 

I believe, the powerful Word of God is a powerful authority. We must be as faithful to it as possible. We do not allow so much room for modern culture or changed times to affect the principles and recommendations the apostles imparted and made to the early church. 

Must the Gospel be reinvented or re-represented to be relevant to our very much "advanced" society? I do not think we are advanced at all, in the spiritual sense. Rather our civilisation's improvements give room for more wickedness and godlessness. We may not say that now society and culture is different, so we take/use the Word differently.

If anything, we are more godless today and our human strengths has increased our pride. We stand on our own independence and intelligence now. God is not necessary. We are progressive, but we are more destructive. The Word however, is still accurate about the condition of men even today. 

I am still vexed, but I will need to continue exercising my trust and dependence on Him, and wait upon Him to direct my paths. He has been good and faithful to me. I am to put my confidence and hope in Him.

Love and Forgive

I had not yet expected the increase in loading with this new year and new season, and I recognize more and more that without God's help, I cannot do any, if not all, of the things well.

I need to do well in faith, in school and in body, not neglecting any of my family, friends and my girlfriend. I have done poorly in these, one way or the other.

How may I take up a hobby and suspend my care for these people and affairs? I should not have time to engage in small activities that are small and will be of no consequence when lined up against these.
My best energies cannot be used to please myself alone.

My eyes ordinarily see only myself. If I live only by what I see and what I care to see, I will neglect and harm others, as I live my day out.

I must not give in to anger easily, but instead love in tenderness, gentleness and kindness.

Love covers all offenses; it does not blame or hold wrongs against one another. It does not invoke jealousy or guilt.

We may not love perfectly, but we may learn more and more from our God, who is Love.

1 John 4

 ⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^[b] into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for^[c] our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 ¹³ We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

   God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷ In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Our hearts must turn to God. Our hearts should be hearts that seek the LORD, even in joy, or in sorrow and anguish. We must bring our feelings and emotions before the Lord, those feelings that we can or cannot help feeling. We are not to think of our problems apart/ away from God. We are to pray in all things. Prayer is our first and best response.


We are in human company and we bruise, offend one another daily. We need to forgive and love those who harm us, and even more so if they are our friends.

We are not to bear grudges or store in our minds and hearts the offenses of others. We do not count their wrongs against them but love them past these. Love keeps no record of wrongs.

It is necessary to forgive, for in Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus said:

   ¹⁴ For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

And He said this, after having taught us how to pray. We are instructed to pray and ask God to "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors".

Jesus says this absolutely, and in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18, Jesus said that unless we forgive our brother who has sinned against us from the heart, there will be no canceling of debts.

We must forgive others, just as how God forgives us - He has done it first. We are to love uncommonly, with uncommon strength and uncommon motivation, all received from our God, who is Love.

We are to pray for God to fill us with His love for Him and for others, that we may have the strength and love to forgive others who have done us wrong.

I may not do this by myself, for I do not have much love. But God will pour His love into my heart by His Holy Spirit, already given me.

Christ lives in us; we must also live in Christ.
May His love be made complete in each of us.

The Powerful Word of God

I really enjoyed last night's fellowship, where the few of us were able to pray and cover each other and nourish each other with the Word. Glen wanted to hear if we had any New Year Resolutions, and I shared my principle in which I would try and be faithful to in the year. 

Last year I tried to fit prayer into my day. This year, I mean to fit my day into prayer. There are blessings when we pray fervently, when we go before our Father and seek to know and spend time in Him. 

The Word has to become important to us, for we are those who stand on the Word of God. We hold on to it as our Truth, our food and our guide. We submit and subject ourselves to the living powerful Word. The Book of Hebrews speaks on how potent the Sword of the Spirit is.  

Hebrews 4

¹² For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Today's study,

Clothe Yourselves With the Lord Jesus Christ instead of (rather than) thinking of how to gratify desires of the sinful nature. - Romans 13:14

We are to go away from observing the desires of the flesh and giving heed to what we feel we would do better with and please our hearts. These things are often harmful things.

We are to put on His humility, His love for God and for men, His attitudes, His devotion to prayer, His obedience to the Father, and His virtues of compassion, patience, gentleness. 

Philippians 2

¹ If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

 ⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

We who have been united with Christ, we who have been comforted by His deep love for us, we who have fellowship, if we have any tenderness and compassion, then we should be like-minded as Christ.

We are to always be concerned with Christ; He is the author and perfecter of our salvation. 

We must have the same love for God and for men, we need to examine our own motivations. 

How much of self is in there, where we work for "myself" and no one else matters? In humility we must not consider ourselves better than others. We should also look out for the interests of others, building up and feeding others. 

We should be more and more humble, more and more obedient, at the cost of injustice, at the cost of painful death, humiliation, torture in the example of our Saviour. The Son of God left His place of glory and let unclean men execute Him. He lived in complete obedience to the Father all His earthly life.  His priority on earth, His food was to do the will of the Father. 

This is the Christ we must be like; we are meant and enabled now, to be like. 

We must be conscious that the putting on of Christ and being like-minded as Him is continuous and life-long. We may not put off Christ at any point in time. It is to become a stronger and better fit. 

I am an observer of Christianity in Singapore today and also elsewhere in the world. Can I match the work being done in these lands and in these ways to be for the Kingdom of Heaven? 

I am concerned that mainstream Christianity may not be the narrow way at all, that it could really be the easy, comfortable broad way to destruction that we may cruise along. 

What are Churches like to today:

- The reverence for God is low.

- Holiness is low, sin is tolerated and not dealt with. 

- There is a lot of flashy spiritual experience and demonstration, but no lasting fruit and no resultant holiness. 

- There is less of the Word and less knowledge in the congregation.

- There is no strong and deep concern for the poor and the homeless. 

- The love for money is preserved and is fed. 

- There is no impact on the world, no power, no fruit. 

God seeks to purify His people for Him. 

Titus 2

 ¹¹ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ¹² It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

God's purpose for us is very clear in verse 14. It is a simple way to check ourselves and our concerns and directions. We are supposed to be a different people, shining stars who may show others that there is a way to be saved, and there is a Name by which they may be saved. We should do good to others, not just ourselves!

My point is not a condemnation or to usurp the Spirit's work in conviction. Rather I want to question and identify this mismatch with the power of the Word and the Gospel and how transformative it is. 

The Gospel is not an upgrade to make you a better human being. It is to completely overhaul one person, because he is completely faulty, he needs more than new parts. He needs a new heart, a new mind and a new spirit. If a person is properly changed by God's Spirit, he is a new creature, and he will be more and more godly and less and less of the old himself.

My knowledge and my understanding is for the glory of Christ, not myself. When I start to think I am better, I begin to displace other men in my mind with my own increasing self importance. I am delighted I may share, but I realize I may have more material to be proud in these instances. 

2011 in Review

And so we are in the new year, whether we are willing or not. And it is my fashion to take stock of the year past so I may give thanks and be amazed at the ways I have been blessed and I have grown.

This year turned out so much better than I expected; it seems to have been a rich year of the Lord's favour upon me. It was a time of growing in Christian manhood, on a diet of the Word.

I became a Regular Officer, jumped by parachute from a plane, went to Europe (Italy), became a student again, met a very special and important girl, and got baptized.

Phase 1: Assuming command as OC, IPPT Gold, Airborne Course, SAF Paracounselor Course, seeing justice meted out on an underperforming and irresponsible superior.

I was in my element as an Officer and leader, leading and teaching and moving men.
It was a surprise to receive the opportunity to attend the coveted BAC and also good to have attended the Paracounselor course.

The last one was to see the last of an individual who was a terrible administrator, officer, leader and soldier all in one flesh. That I had a small part to play in effecting justice. Ah, it was sweet to pave the way for the true facts to come out. I am still struggling to overcome my severe dislike for him.



Phase 2: Coming out of command into a Staff role, preparing for (and going to) Italy with Hakim and growing in faith and obedience.



Phase 3: Coming to University and meeting with good friends, Christian brothers and my girlfriend.

God is faithful, and when I begun to seek His way to live, He assisted me. He provided me with good environment to study the Word and pray in private, brothers and sisters to encourage me and move to Him jointly in worship; He also added to me wisdom and understanding.

I was barely conscious that I was worked on early in the year. It was when I held to the Word again as my first food that I grew stronger and surer in faith. I matured more, though not completely. I grew more sensible of my thirst and I looked for the Living Water. Time spent in Him and with Him brought change and growth.

I am so glad that with her, the timing was good and natural, and we were safe-kept in body and in purity for one another. How heartbreaking would it have been if any exclusive affection for each other had been given first to someone else before.

It was very good that I did not court her for her physical beauty, but that I had first noticed her faith and her loveliness in nature. That there were fruits of good character that I saw above outward qualities. So our relationship may begin on less fickle things like our faith which is to be life-long and sure, instead of tastes and personality.

Now we look to love each other beyond the flesh. We guard and protect each other in thought, speech and action. We show affection, we think for the other. We are mindful that our love for Christ must be higher and first. If we both submit to God, we would not believe we are always correct and faultless. We would not fan jealousy, but instead when the other is worried, we reassure each other with more love and affection. This is sweet and safe.


Lessons Remembered and Sealed in Memory:

God puts His Christians in fire to refine them - Daniel 3
Shadrach, Meshach and Abdenego were thrown in the furnace, and they uncommonly trusted God beyond their lives. They were not consumed, but their faith and their God was proven to be true.

Am I ready to be put into the furnace? When He judges I am, He will. He has the good outcome in mind. While the furnace is exceedingly hot, He may keep me from being burnt up.

Christians have no power. Our faith has no power. The Word seems to be ineffective. I see more clearly that we have no power because we let the Word lie, and we do not fast or pray. We do not know God well because we do not spend much time in His Presence. If this is so, can we bear to spend forever with Him? He occupies all of heaven!

I may spend a lot of time thinking of and thinking about Him, but if I do not pray and go to Him, I will not know Him. He is the Person whom I am to love.

I am to be a faithful man, that's all. Not intelligent, not rich, not physically strong. I am to be faithful to my God and to my wife when I do have one.

The Holy Spirit is holy. His work is to make holy. If whatever takes place has no resultant holiness or a reverence for Christ, can we be sure it is the Holy Spirit of God?

We are to grow more obedient, more submissive, and not rebellious. With our parents and with God.


Proverbs 19: 21 - Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. 
We must not contest God's plans with our own, but instead take on His plan.


Things I have done poorly, and I need to improve-

1. I have loved my friends and my family poorly. I did not do well with my family. I lived apart from them, and did not mind them much.

2. I am not a hard worker. A man must work, and work hard.

3. I am not a spiritual man, I am one who lives in the body. I wish to roam free outside God's law and Word, but still be credited as righteous and seen as impressive.

Romans 12: 10 - Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. 
With this last sentence, I see that I have consistently sought to do the reverse.

*

I have accumulated many good days, good meals, good friends and good times. God is exceedingly kind and He continues to be. I have prayed and I am hopeful that 2012 will continue to be a year of His good favour with me.

Yet if I become poor or sick or hungry, may I turn and say that He is not kind or good? In 2012, how to walk if not crawl, is to have the Word as our constant companion.