Love and Hospitality as our Trademark

I think that these years in my life are not just a progression into adulthood but also growing into a Christian man.

Therefore I will write about the segments where I grow, tumble and trip and recover, for it will be helpful for me when I reminisce.

Everyday is a struggle to be faithful and to honour Christ.
By my action, speech and treatment of others, I represent Christ.

In one of my texts to Dong Lin, I wrote that Love is a Christian Trademark. Then when Raj came over to my room, I remembered that Hospitality was one of these trademarks we are to exhibit also. I did what I could to welcome him, in my living space.

I am in a season of sickness, because I have not cared well for myself. Does this season have any bearing on how I relate to God? In all occasions and under all conditions, we are to rejoice, give thanks and praise Him. He lives and I have life in Him.

Do I expect and trust God to heal me? I know He can, but do I believe He will heal me?
Can I ask God to fix my body while I harm it by abuse daily?
Yet this is the process of renewal which out of His grace and discretion, He will give. We sin daily and He shows mercy and gives forgiveness where we repent and submit ourselves to His Word.

My sickness reminds me that my flesh is weak. It also chastens me, that my spirit must be strong. In all circumstances and situations, I must pray. I depend on Him and whether He heals me or not, I will wait on Him.

I must exercise my spiritual freedom and new life to obey and not to return to the selfish, unloving and mean-spirited patterns of the old life. 

Election

At present, I believe, on the basis of Romans 9 and Isaiah 59 and so many other Scriptures, that it is God's sovereign choice and God Himself who works salvation.

I believe that it is God's mercy and not what we may do on our own that will save us. But it is written that Jesus draws all men to Himself (John 12:32).

John 6:65- He went on to say, "That is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." 

John 6:37, 38, 39 - "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me but raise them up at the last day."

John 10:27,28,29,30  - "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

Luke 13:24 - He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'"


1. God draws, enables men to go near to Christ.
2. Christ safe-keeps all who are given over to Him. No one may snatch them from Him; He will lose none of them.
3. Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.

To reconcile all the above, we may not fully understand what is the reach of His reaping. But we may be confident that His love for us is true - genuine and faithful.

Our hearts must not be hard, and our attitude must be reverential. We must submit to God's authority and go to Him meekly. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6). 

For our first and foremost sin was that we "neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him" (Romans 1:21). Honour God and His sovereign authority over us.

Pray with precision. We must ask for mercy and ask God to enable us to go to Him and to bring us to a knowledge of Him and His Word.

Go near to Christ Jesus. Let nothing prevent you from doing so. 

Insights this week.

I will use this place for the purposes of putting out whatever insights I have received from the Lord. May the Spirit of God give whoever reads, the mind of Christ that they may understand, receive greater mercy,love and become greatly blessed.


I am a Christian young man and as a man, temptations stalk me, whether I am equipped to stand my ground in Christ or not. Any day, if I had not gone into prayer to be strengthened in God's presence or have read His potent and powerful Word, I would have been undone. If the Spirit did not chasten me, I would not have been able. Praise be to the Lord who covers His people. 


I reflected and wrote the following in my journal as a documentation of my confession unto the Lord that,


The lust of the flesh is insipid and virulent. It derails me from the path of holiness, poisons my eyes, mind, heart, and spirit. It leads me to disrespect a woman' body and only to look to vent my desire on another flesh, with no care for the person's emotions, well-being or tender heart. It dishonours Christ, that I sin against Him out of my self-love, which has no kindness, gentleness or compassion, but seeks to harm myself and another person dear and beloved in the Lord's sight.


I had lust in my heart. 


In contemplating sin, or going as far as to plan sin, there is no difference. In my mind and heart, I am ready and bent to do evil, having put off any love or kindness for anyone. Now I just lack the occasion. 


All day, I am tempted to lie and deal with others indecently, dishonestly.
I look to be adored, praised and honoured by men (and women). This leads me to make a false projection of outward appearance of spiritual health and wealth. 


This stains any good thing I try to do, because my compulsions now have no good motive, but instead for trickery and to gather glory for myself.


I have prejudice for others; I despise peoples and I do not let them matter to me. I reserve very little pity for people both near and far away.


I envy others that are ahead of me in the LORD. 


I have no strength or ability to make myself conform to any goodness by sheer will. 
Thank the Lord Jesus that the Spirit is stronger than flesh, and I do not use flesh to overcome flesh.


After my confession, I feel the flow of the Spirit again. 
We as believers are not meant to be crippled by sin, but to move out in the power of the Spirit.


I need to learn to not look at a woman based on form and appearance, or outward things such as "poise", "confidence" or the like, but on qualities of gentleness, compassion, love, patience. These are the fruits of the spirit.


When I look for the woman I am to love and begin a family with, I do not rely on feelings because they are fickle, or emotions for they do not last. My love for her will be, and a constant. If it changes, it will only grow. 


I am to learn how to treat her gently and care for her. I am to grow in my knowledge of her, and to be fully committed to loving and pleasing and protecting her. My love for her must be responsible and not just emotive. 


We who are His will be taught by His Spirit and we will not, and we cannot remain the same after we have known Him.


May how am I blessed in the Lord, be the same for whoever reads my writing. Amen.

Coming out of prayer rested and refreshed, I have received many things from the Lord and there has to be a way I put it out to the rest of the world.

Not to forget:

I have a Father in Heaven,

The Spirit lives in me,

Christ died for me.

Therefore, I live in conformity to His Word, by His Spirit, always careful to love and obey.

Having been set free, we now use our spiritual freedom to pursue righteousness and the kingdom of God.

Eternal Security

I have been trying to come to terms with the security that I truly know Christ and I am abiding by the very Spirit He has sent to us.

Yet if I were not born again, would I be conscious or concerned about any of these?

The enemy attacks my surety in Christ and seeks to destabilize my faith and my confidence that I am in Christ.

We, soldiers of Christ must be strong and rich in Scripture, knowing and quoting the words of truth, not letting them depart from us.

In discerning which Spirit I am following after, am I bearing fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?

Galatians 5: 22-23

Summing Up and Crossing Over

It is always about the people, the people.

Why I blog - I blog to remember. The things I wrote about from 2007-2009, I remember with accuracy, and in order to try and seize hold of the good things and moments we cannot remain in, I must have a record.

I have closed one chapter of my life, which I did not want to, having spent more than a year on Pulau Tekong, first as a new recruit, and later an Officer, and eventually a Company Commander.

Now I have crossed over into the next phase as an Army Student.

Why I signed on - I like the Army. I feel that what we do is purposeful, fierce and fun. Although administration is dull and I'm not that enthused about it, I have had so good an NS experience and I want more of it, with more new and excellent people.

Leaving Tekong was saddening for me, where I had to say goodbye to a string of people whom I would never know and work in the same intimate manner where we got angry, busy and rejoiced together. I always feel the tears when this happens.

The b/m is an effort to capture the sweetness of the relationships and the closeness of the bonds wrought under the compression of time, stress and unfriendly work demands.

It is also a collection of some of the best people I know.

I spoke with Daniel (Lim) last night, while waiting for the laundry, and it was very heartening for me, where an elder Christian brother spoke to me about this, out of his concern. He thought that it was necessary to speak to me, seeing that my combination of an Army Career and an English Major was uncommon. It is rather rare and non-economical.

But I confided in him, which I had only to few others that I could count with my fingers, that I was more keen on becoming a Bible scholar. As for now, while I am young and fit, I want to become a commander and work with all sorts of men.

For now, I remain a Soldier.

Having gone through orientation, interacting with people and receiving unique treatment, has led me to reflect and look closely at what is the content of my heart and soul. Wild fun, with no end is not my beverage. I feel that having served as the way I did, I'm too grown up for the irresponsible humour that many students subscribe to.

While I was 21, I had taken the role of someone close to 30. It has accelerated my aging and the preoccupations of my mind. I have been caretaker, counselor and parent. How may I put aside the wisdom and sense I learnt.

May a member of the body of Christ behave in a non-decent manner? Can he/she participate in activities that allure the flesh and the desire?

Therefore, it was good that I met Glen from Orion here in BLK 7 in the Hall. Christian brothers stand together. May the LORD's hand be ever on us, as we live in obedience and reverence of Him, even in an environment that buffets us in every way. We are cornered, but not overcome.

I share this post to show my appreciation and open my mind to the people I love and have served with. You are so precious to me, I will bring a piece of all of you with me, from now on wherever I go. I deeply appreciate your support, your effort and your following me, where I have led you. You are the best.

This is what we must declare anew

Joshua 24: 14-15

¹⁴ “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. ¹⁵ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Realizations:

It is the broken, weak and poor who have an understanding of our uncleanness and unworthiness and can recognize the depth and breath of God's Love and Grace in His acceptance of us.

What I fix my eyes upon is what I will be filled with. If I allow entrance unclean things to enter into my view, my body and mind will be full of darkness.

Luke 11:34-36

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,^[a] your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,^[b] your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. ³⁶ Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

It is not okay to be ''away from God for a short while''.

Such a compartmentalization of God's Spirit will leave space for something else to enter.

We are at the 6-month mark of the year. God is gracious, faithful, good and strongly present.
It is instead how much my heart is receptive to His Spirit.

I have been favoured by Him and people to have completed the following:

1. I have jumped from a plane in the Basic Airborne Course.

2. I was entrusted with the command of a company as Officer Commanding for a short time in M Company, and had a pleasant time working with, and growing the command team and the new soldiers.

3. I have overcome pain to achieve my IPPT GOLD award for this year;


4. I have a new and better boss; and the old derelict one has been removed far away,

5. I finally made several purchases that made it easy for me to upkeep my physical exercise.

This is but a small extent of the goodness I have been graced with. I believe there will be more good out of this year, sweet and bitter experiences to grow my character and faith.
Glory be to Christ, God's Son.