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Thursday, November 10, 2011
Anne Bradstreet
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
How may one begin to speak of the goodness and the blessings the Lord has for him? I did not expect my God to bring a girl as precious as this along at this point in time. I had not thought of myself as ready or mature, but it seems that I have been prepared for her through this time.
We must remember to be careful and to honour Him, even as we spend time together, for He is the One who weaves lives together best. We must also be careful to not take our eyes off the Lord and only look to each other, for it would grieve Him. We must all eagerly desire God's goodness for us, and trust in His deep, everlasting love for us, and concern for us.
Now I go into the time of learning to treasure, cherish and protect a sister and a daughter of our Father.
*
Over the Public Holiday, I teamed up with Zicong at the gym, and it was very good to have reunited to exercise, and see how each other has grown in the Lord over the past 3 years.
He asked me a question over lunch, on whether I was for evangelism and if I found it difficult to bring people to church.
I told him I didn't like what was being done by those who do evangelism this way, because in doing this they were selling church culture and not the Gospel.
And the church of today is far below the Biblical standard, almost powerless, and heavily impacted by the world's culture. We need to examine the state of the Christian church today, and compare it with the New Testament. Where is the power of the church to impact the community? Where is the power of the Spirit?
We must not be in a hurry to catch people. The Spirit of God is the one who prepares human hearts for the Word of God to be seeded and grown. If we move ahead of time and without wrestling in prayer, and without His Spirit, we will hinder the person.
I think our method should first be to live out the Gospel, preach the Gospel and pray. We need to disciple others.
How much of the Gospel of Christ have we really heard, and how much of the Person of Christ and the character of God do we know.
Bringing people into buildings to sit under the pulpit is of little use, if they are not hearing the gospel and seeing the power of God move in human lives.
What do we use to draw people in? Music, dancing, excitement or the Gospel?
If we give everything other than the Gospel, we are misrepresenting our Christ, for this is the only thing that is of importance. Men come to hear and know the way to be saved.
The disciples of Christ are characterized by our love for one another. It is a different and higher kind of love, that not all of us may have the strength to show. The church community needs to love all its members and practice this broad love on others who are beginning to hunger for truth. There is a need for pliable men who are submissive to God, whose lives become evidences of God's work.
People who come with improper expectations are turned away, but those who come with the genuine thirst that our God and Saviour came to satisfy will also be disappointed and go away thirsty, with no solution to their soul's panting.
We must be careful for we are dealing with human souls that He loves very much. We are accountable to Him for how we build up His people or damage the faith of others and stunt their growth.
For those brothers and sisters who are excited at the goodness of God, instead go into the Word and root yourself in truth and pray for understanding of His message of salvation, that Christ worked to bring to the world, and was promised to Abraham so long ago.
We must remember to be careful and to honour Him, even as we spend time together, for He is the One who weaves lives together best. We must also be careful to not take our eyes off the Lord and only look to each other, for it would grieve Him. We must all eagerly desire God's goodness for us, and trust in His deep, everlasting love for us, and concern for us.
Now I go into the time of learning to treasure, cherish and protect a sister and a daughter of our Father.
*
Over the Public Holiday, I teamed up with Zicong at the gym, and it was very good to have reunited to exercise, and see how each other has grown in the Lord over the past 3 years.
He asked me a question over lunch, on whether I was for evangelism and if I found it difficult to bring people to church.
I told him I didn't like what was being done by those who do evangelism this way, because in doing this they were selling church culture and not the Gospel.
And the church of today is far below the Biblical standard, almost powerless, and heavily impacted by the world's culture. We need to examine the state of the Christian church today, and compare it with the New Testament. Where is the power of the church to impact the community? Where is the power of the Spirit?
We must not be in a hurry to catch people. The Spirit of God is the one who prepares human hearts for the Word of God to be seeded and grown. If we move ahead of time and without wrestling in prayer, and without His Spirit, we will hinder the person.
I think our method should first be to live out the Gospel, preach the Gospel and pray. We need to disciple others.
How much of the Gospel of Christ have we really heard, and how much of the Person of Christ and the character of God do we know.
Bringing people into buildings to sit under the pulpit is of little use, if they are not hearing the gospel and seeing the power of God move in human lives.
What do we use to draw people in? Music, dancing, excitement or the Gospel?
If we give everything other than the Gospel, we are misrepresenting our Christ, for this is the only thing that is of importance. Men come to hear and know the way to be saved.
The disciples of Christ are characterized by our love for one another. It is a different and higher kind of love, that not all of us may have the strength to show. The church community needs to love all its members and practice this broad love on others who are beginning to hunger for truth. There is a need for pliable men who are submissive to God, whose lives become evidences of God's work.
People who come with improper expectations are turned away, but those who come with the genuine thirst that our God and Saviour came to satisfy will also be disappointed and go away thirsty, with no solution to their soul's panting.
We must be careful for we are dealing with human souls that He loves very much. We are accountable to Him for how we build up His people or damage the faith of others and stunt their growth.
For those brothers and sisters who are excited at the goodness of God, instead go into the Word and root yourself in truth and pray for understanding of His message of salvation, that Christ worked to bring to the world, and was promised to Abraham so long ago.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Loving Those Who Resist
My week is always a comparison between God's faithfulness and how I reciprocate His love for me with my faithful obedience. How much of my heart I give over to Him, and how much do I compartmentalize and reserve for myself?
Happiness or Joy?
I do not know any person who is happy all the time. There are moments of depression that I will fall into, but the good thing is that I will not be in it for too long. I am not allowed it seems, to be sorrowful for long before my great Comforter will soon restore to me the comfort that was promised me.
Who may comfort my troubled spirit?
God will comfort me; this is His Character. My Father loves me and He is also the God of all Comfort. He made me, and He knows what beverage I need for my thirst.
Building relationships takes a lot of grace. Do I have so much?
Yet I am charged to love and to be gracious, because I have known His Grace and His love. We are in the business of imitating, becoming more like Christ Jesus, so we give grace to others and love them.
Who truly understands grace? Only the greatest sinner who has received full pardon. Paul the Apostle considered himself in this category.
Who validates me? Not men, but my God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
One who is aghast at the horror of his vile sins will then understand the full measure of the pardon and appreciate the grace and hope held out for him. If I may be forgiven for these great sins, I may be confident that the One who forgave me loves me beyond my state, and my present condition.
I think that the casual and unappreciative way Christians speak about grace shows a great lack of knowing what it is.
Grace is neither abetment nor endorsement. Grace frees and Grace empowers one for Holy living. If we truly know Grace and see the heart behind it, we will want to remain in this love and goodness and never depart into unacceptable ways again. Grace results in the ability to forgive.
I think we are vengeful creatures who long to visit others who have harmed us with malice also. But in Christ, we are a new creation, and have His Spirit to help us.
Resolution,
I am to imitate Christ, to forgive and to love those who have not loved Him and have not loved me also. And so I will-I must, and He will pour out the strength and the love to cultivate this foreign nature that was never mine or a part of me in the first place. This love has always been from Him.
Journaling
I do not talk about my feelings. I have only talked about my thoughts.
While I cannot remember who said this, I think it is very true-"If I should die before I wake, throw my journal in the lake."
I still want to be honest in my journal, at least for a while more, and gaining access to my writings is gaining understanding of how my mind works, how my heart feels, the contents of my soul and how my spirit is. Sharing this with another is deeply intimate, and it must be done with wisdom.
Prayer
I actually heard the most encouraging thing last evening from my non-believing buddy.
He said he knew if I were angry, I would pray one, adding a "I know him very well".
I wonder if he sees that prayer is not just self-talk, but transformative.
It is also a reminder of how dependent I am, and I must be, on prayer.
Two threads of thought came to me last night before I fell asleep:
"Of one thing I may be confident of and in, even if all else falls apart, that He has loved me with an everlasting love, and His everlasting love moves Him to care for me in every way. Who may know how dearly beloved we are to Him."
And because I know the above, I could say:
"There is nothing left to say other than 'Amen' and to go sleep."
I am not a holy man, who is so close to God that I now have an elevated standing. Rather, I am one who is conscious of Him and His standards and of how I fall short all the time. But I also am conscious of His love and His goodness and the hope held out for me. Therefore, I may live with confidence that He will be with me.
It had been said, in the last part of Isaiah 49:23, that those who hope in the Lord will not be disappointed. Our hope is based on the Character of our God who is unchanging, whose love for us endures forever.
Happiness or Joy?
I do not know any person who is happy all the time. There are moments of depression that I will fall into, but the good thing is that I will not be in it for too long. I am not allowed it seems, to be sorrowful for long before my great Comforter will soon restore to me the comfort that was promised me.
Who may comfort my troubled spirit?
God will comfort me; this is His Character. My Father loves me and He is also the God of all Comfort. He made me, and He knows what beverage I need for my thirst.
It is also wise to note that I have observed that Happiness is a feeling, whereas Joy is a state.
And we know how short-lived feelings are.
Grace
Yet I am charged to love and to be gracious, because I have known His Grace and His love. We are in the business of imitating, becoming more like Christ Jesus, so we give grace to others and love them.
Who truly understands grace? Only the greatest sinner who has received full pardon. Paul the Apostle considered himself in this category.
Who validates me? Not men, but my God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 1:15-16
New International Version (NIV)
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
One who is aghast at the horror of his vile sins will then understand the full measure of the pardon and appreciate the grace and hope held out for him. If I may be forgiven for these great sins, I may be confident that the One who forgave me loves me beyond my state, and my present condition.
Luke 7:46-48
New International Version (NIV)
46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
I think that the casual and unappreciative way Christians speak about grace shows a great lack of knowing what it is.
Grace is neither abetment nor endorsement. Grace frees and Grace empowers one for Holy living. If we truly know Grace and see the heart behind it, we will want to remain in this love and goodness and never depart into unacceptable ways again. Grace results in the ability to forgive.
I think we are vengeful creatures who long to visit others who have harmed us with malice also. But in Christ, we are a new creation, and have His Spirit to help us.
Resolution,
I am to imitate Christ, to forgive and to love those who have not loved Him and have not loved me also. And so I will-I must, and He will pour out the strength and the love to cultivate this foreign nature that was never mine or a part of me in the first place. This love has always been from Him.
Journaling
I do not talk about my feelings. I have only talked about my thoughts.
While I cannot remember who said this, I think it is very true-"If I should die before I wake, throw my journal in the lake."
I still want to be honest in my journal, at least for a while more, and gaining access to my writings is gaining understanding of how my mind works, how my heart feels, the contents of my soul and how my spirit is. Sharing this with another is deeply intimate, and it must be done with wisdom.
Prayer
I actually heard the most encouraging thing last evening from my non-believing buddy.
He said he knew if I were angry, I would pray one, adding a "I know him very well".
I wonder if he sees that prayer is not just self-talk, but transformative.
It is also a reminder of how dependent I am, and I must be, on prayer.
Two threads of thought came to me last night before I fell asleep:
"Of one thing I may be confident of and in, even if all else falls apart, that He has loved me with an everlasting love, and His everlasting love moves Him to care for me in every way. Who may know how dearly beloved we are to Him."
And because I know the above, I could say:
"There is nothing left to say other than 'Amen' and to go sleep."
I am not a holy man, who is so close to God that I now have an elevated standing. Rather, I am one who is conscious of Him and His standards and of how I fall short all the time. But I also am conscious of His love and His goodness and the hope held out for me. Therefore, I may live with confidence that He will be with me.
It had been said, in the last part of Isaiah 49:23, that those who hope in the Lord will not be disappointed. Our hope is based on the Character of our God who is unchanging, whose love for us endures forever.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Abiding in Him
Prayer takes time, yes. But time spent praying is never in vain, for He hears and He desires us all to go near to Him. However, we ourselves must choose it.
How We Know Our Thirst?
We need to go to Christ daily for our drink of living water, for although we may be filled with His Spirit, like D. L. Moody had said, we leak.
How do we know we are in need of this? I learnt that how we feel about His Word is a good indicator of the temperature of our hearts, be it hot or cold.
Do we desire with eagerness to discover and rediscover the blessings and truths in His Word or we are
content to go on without engaging it daily?
*
There was a need to realign myself even more fully with Him, for I tend to go the other way. So many way I fight His sovereignty and dispute with Him on what is best for me. He works in love; I deal with sinful appetites.
We may trust Him, for His character is unchanging. He is good, His love endures forever, He is holy, and He is true to His Word. Our hope and trust belongs with Him.
In rare blessed moments of sobriety, I feel even more strongly that we are only children and we do not know what is good for us.
But I am sure God prospers His people who are faithful and obedient in more ways than they know it.
We must be sure to be those who are faithful and obedient.
Where We Stand?
Only in Christ do we have firm footing. All else is shifting sand and loose ground.
To remain in Christ, in His love, we must love and obey Him. The Kingdom has no place for idle sluggards who recline and do nothing to magnify Christ in their daily living.
The King and God over all the heavens and earth will not be content with being quartered in a portion of the heart or mind.
Change Is For Sure
The Gospel of Christ, the Spirit has transforming power. It has a tendency of changing lives wherever it touches. Those changed by the Spirit become less worldly, less enamored with the appeal of the things of the earth and now have more capacity for the things of God.
They have more appetite for His Word, for prayer and for godliness.
We know if Christ is to come in and dwell in the temple that is our body, He will most surely rearrange the temple and drive out all the things that do not belong. Luke 19: 45-46, Matthew 21:12-13.
That is the pattern of how He works. He works to clean us and to perfect us, because we are now dearly His.
If you say you have known His Spirit, but you remain the same, and have not been transformed, your position is dangerous. The Spirit is a Spirit of Power; He will not be idle and He will not rest for His work is to glorify God in your person and in your life. This change must, and this change will take place!
Will God not come to the rescue of those who recognize they are in danger and in need of Him?
Cry out to Him in prayer. Immerse yourself in the Scriptures and seek Him in prayer. Ask of Him and ask in the Name of Christ. God has graced us with a way through to Him, in Christ Jesus.
John 14:6
How We Know Our Thirst?
We need to go to Christ daily for our drink of living water, for although we may be filled with His Spirit, like D. L. Moody had said, we leak.
How do we know we are in need of this? I learnt that how we feel about His Word is a good indicator of the temperature of our hearts, be it hot or cold.
Do we desire with eagerness to discover and rediscover the blessings and truths in His Word or we are
content to go on without engaging it daily?
*
There was a need to realign myself even more fully with Him, for I tend to go the other way. So many way I fight His sovereignty and dispute with Him on what is best for me. He works in love; I deal with sinful appetites.
We may trust Him, for His character is unchanging. He is good, His love endures forever, He is holy, and He is true to His Word. Our hope and trust belongs with Him.
In rare blessed moments of sobriety, I feel even more strongly that we are only children and we do not know what is good for us.
But I am sure God prospers His people who are faithful and obedient in more ways than they know it.
We must be sure to be those who are faithful and obedient.
Where We Stand?
Only in Christ do we have firm footing. All else is shifting sand and loose ground.
To remain in Christ, in His love, we must love and obey Him. The Kingdom has no place for idle sluggards who recline and do nothing to magnify Christ in their daily living.
The King and God over all the heavens and earth will not be content with being quartered in a portion of the heart or mind.
Change Is For Sure
The Gospel of Christ, the Spirit has transforming power. It has a tendency of changing lives wherever it touches. Those changed by the Spirit become less worldly, less enamored with the appeal of the things of the earth and now have more capacity for the things of God.
They have more appetite for His Word, for prayer and for godliness.
We know if Christ is to come in and dwell in the temple that is our body, He will most surely rearrange the temple and drive out all the things that do not belong. Luke 19: 45-46, Matthew 21:12-13.
That is the pattern of how He works. He works to clean us and to perfect us, because we are now dearly His.
If you say you have known His Spirit, but you remain the same, and have not been transformed, your position is dangerous. The Spirit is a Spirit of Power; He will not be idle and He will not rest for His work is to glorify God in your person and in your life. This change must, and this change will take place!
Will God not come to the rescue of those who recognize they are in danger and in need of Him?
Cry out to Him in prayer. Immerse yourself in the Scriptures and seek Him in prayer. Ask of Him and ask in the Name of Christ. God has graced us with a way through to Him, in Christ Jesus.
John 14:6
6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
It is not that I have taken hold of the full truth, but I have been graced with knowledge that was not always mine. I am definitely proud that I may know these things, but if we look at Him who is the author and perfecter of our faith, we may lose such an inaccurately high view of ourselves.
I do not see beyond the months of December and January, but my God does.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Evening Conversations
SL: Eh.You think that us Asians have difficulty expressing emotions?
EL: No.
SL: I mean like telling our parents we love them and the like. Can you do it?
EL: No. Maybe it's got to do with how they beat the hell out of us last time.
Widespread laughter and high-fives.
EL: No.
SL: I mean like telling our parents we love them and the like. Can you do it?
EL: No. Maybe it's got to do with how they beat the hell out of us last time.
Widespread laughter and high-fives.
Maybe my being conscious of readership causes me to write differently.
I have been told that I am extremely Chinese, and it is only after I think about it that I realize that I am an awkward splice of the Occidental and the Oriental. But this is something that is precious and not about to change. My grandfather though is very pleased my sisters and I are bilingual this way.
*
Today, I attended the final session of the Baptism Course at my church, and my friends at cell Terence and Hui Leng were surprised to realize that 5 weeks had passed just like this. If I were to lean back and cruise some more, I would be well into November and into a right state of panic.
I cannot be so proud as to say that I had learnt everything I heard through the course. They brought us, over the course of 5 weeks, from the Character of God, to the Person of Christ, to the Work of Christ, and on the necessity of Missions, and the Last Things at the End.
What I knew before was refined and sharpened, and I now also may be able to guide young believers and new believers into the fundamentals of faith.
It took some humility that was not there to begin with to sit under the powerpoint slides and be treated as if my I had no idea what my faith was about. I reminded myself to submit and not to stumble newer believers who were new to the Word.
I also had to resist flashing my heavily annotated Bible which Agnes Lee had said it looked like it was "dipped in highlighter". It would have so easy to let others see that hey, this young man sitting over here knows the Scriptures very well. This would be spiritual intimidation, which I am guilty of often, likely even at this very moment.
But going through the structured and formal lessons also showed me how good the Lord was to me, having built my understanding and knowledge of His Word without the benefit of formal instruction like others who had a home church.
It also showed me that there were plenty of gaps in my Theology that I had not tended to. What is my position on the sequence of events leading to the end of the Church Age, the "Rapture" and the Millennial Reign of Christ? I have not studied this and I also cannot say it will not matter to me. It details my hope of what is to come. But the Spirit will give understanding when we study the Scriptures.
We may not understand the Word of God without His Spirit. His Spirit is a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, of counsel and of might, and of the knowledge and fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11: 2.
*
Sometimes I find myself thinking that I have already matured and sin minimally now. If I believe this, I believe a lie. I walk and live among people who do not know and have not known the Light of the World. I think and talk as one who loves darkness.
I am often charmed by the world and what she offers-vain things that have no reverence for a holy God. What desires and habits do they encourage? Vanity, Pride, Promiscuity, Lust and varying standards of immorality.
Do these ventures and things and activities honour God, or celebrate the individual who seems to stand 'strong' on his own apart from God?
We are guilty of minimizing Christ and exalting our self-interests above His purposes. We only chime in with the plans that serve/please us best.
There is 1 John 1:8 to remember, that "if we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us". God is holy and He is coming for a holy people who have kept themselves in purity. It is presumptuous of me to think that I have reached His standards.
Thankfully, He has promised to cleanse us.
*
Sermon today was on Caleb's 45 year long wait for God to fulfill the promise of given to him the land that was pledged to him by Moses in Numbers. He received his allotment in Joshua 14.
He was commended as a man who followed after God wholeheartedly, even while he waited a long time.
Compared to him, we have no capacity or tolerance for waiting.
"Waiting is one of God's most powerful tools of grace. It's important to realize in your ministry that God doesn't just give us grace for the wait. The wait itself is a gift of grace. You see, waiting is not only about what you will receive at the end of the wait. Waiting is about what you will become as you wait.
In calling us to wait, God is even rescuing those of us in ministry from our bondage to our own plan, our own wisdom, our own power, our own control. In calling us to wait, God is freeing us from the claustrophobic confines of our own little kingdoms of one and drawing us into a greater allegiance to his kingdom of glory and grace. Waiting is more than being patient as situations and other people change. Waiting is about understanding that you and I desperately need to change, and that waiting is a powerful tool of personal change. God is using the grace of waiting to change us at the causal core of our personhood: the heart. Now, in ministry, that's a good thing!"
- Paul Tripp.
Waiting has a transforming effect on our hearts.
I need to gather my whole heart to seek the Lord and thereby I may find Him.
My whole human life ahead of me must be lived for His glory and not my own.
"One life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last"- I think it was Leonard Ravenhill who said this.
I had been reading A.W. Tozer, who happens to be Ravenhill's good friend.
This is an excerpt from a book by him:
"I once read of a great sculptor whose sculptures were prized by everyone. Someone once asked him the secret of his masterpieces. He said something to the effect, "I just chip away at everything that doesn't belong there." The sculptor looked at the lump of granite or whatever and saw something in it nobody else saw. The genius of his masterpiece was to eliminate everything that did not belong there and allow the vision of that image to appear." Pg 71, A Disruptive Faith
This image we are to reveal is that of Christ.
I have been told that I am extremely Chinese, and it is only after I think about it that I realize that I am an awkward splice of the Occidental and the Oriental. But this is something that is precious and not about to change. My grandfather though is very pleased my sisters and I are bilingual this way.
*
Today, I attended the final session of the Baptism Course at my church, and my friends at cell Terence and Hui Leng were surprised to realize that 5 weeks had passed just like this. If I were to lean back and cruise some more, I would be well into November and into a right state of panic.
I cannot be so proud as to say that I had learnt everything I heard through the course. They brought us, over the course of 5 weeks, from the Character of God, to the Person of Christ, to the Work of Christ, and on the necessity of Missions, and the Last Things at the End.
What I knew before was refined and sharpened, and I now also may be able to guide young believers and new believers into the fundamentals of faith.
It took some humility that was not there to begin with to sit under the powerpoint slides and be treated as if my I had no idea what my faith was about. I reminded myself to submit and not to stumble newer believers who were new to the Word.
I also had to resist flashing my heavily annotated Bible which Agnes Lee had said it looked like it was "dipped in highlighter". It would have so easy to let others see that hey, this young man sitting over here knows the Scriptures very well. This would be spiritual intimidation, which I am guilty of often, likely even at this very moment.
But going through the structured and formal lessons also showed me how good the Lord was to me, having built my understanding and knowledge of His Word without the benefit of formal instruction like others who had a home church.
It also showed me that there were plenty of gaps in my Theology that I had not tended to. What is my position on the sequence of events leading to the end of the Church Age, the "Rapture" and the Millennial Reign of Christ? I have not studied this and I also cannot say it will not matter to me. It details my hope of what is to come. But the Spirit will give understanding when we study the Scriptures.
We may not understand the Word of God without His Spirit. His Spirit is a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, of counsel and of might, and of the knowledge and fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11: 2.
*
Sometimes I find myself thinking that I have already matured and sin minimally now. If I believe this, I believe a lie. I walk and live among people who do not know and have not known the Light of the World. I think and talk as one who loves darkness.
I am often charmed by the world and what she offers-vain things that have no reverence for a holy God. What desires and habits do they encourage? Vanity, Pride, Promiscuity, Lust and varying standards of immorality.
Do these ventures and things and activities honour God, or celebrate the individual who seems to stand 'strong' on his own apart from God?
We are guilty of minimizing Christ and exalting our self-interests above His purposes. We only chime in with the plans that serve/please us best.
There is 1 John 1:8 to remember, that "if we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us". God is holy and He is coming for a holy people who have kept themselves in purity. It is presumptuous of me to think that I have reached His standards.
Thankfully, He has promised to cleanse us.
*
Sermon today was on Caleb's 45 year long wait for God to fulfill the promise of given to him the land that was pledged to him by Moses in Numbers. He received his allotment in Joshua 14.
He was commended as a man who followed after God wholeheartedly, even while he waited a long time.
Compared to him, we have no capacity or tolerance for waiting.
"Waiting is one of God's most powerful tools of grace. It's important to realize in your ministry that God doesn't just give us grace for the wait. The wait itself is a gift of grace. You see, waiting is not only about what you will receive at the end of the wait. Waiting is about what you will become as you wait.
In calling us to wait, God is even rescuing those of us in ministry from our bondage to our own plan, our own wisdom, our own power, our own control. In calling us to wait, God is freeing us from the claustrophobic confines of our own little kingdoms of one and drawing us into a greater allegiance to his kingdom of glory and grace. Waiting is more than being patient as situations and other people change. Waiting is about understanding that you and I desperately need to change, and that waiting is a powerful tool of personal change. God is using the grace of waiting to change us at the causal core of our personhood: the heart. Now, in ministry, that's a good thing!"
- Paul Tripp.
Waiting has a transforming effect on our hearts.
I need to gather my whole heart to seek the Lord and thereby I may find Him.
My whole human life ahead of me must be lived for His glory and not my own.
"One life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last"- I think it was Leonard Ravenhill who said this.
I had been reading A.W. Tozer, who happens to be Ravenhill's good friend.
This is an excerpt from a book by him:
"I once read of a great sculptor whose sculptures were prized by everyone. Someone once asked him the secret of his masterpieces. He said something to the effect, "I just chip away at everything that doesn't belong there." The sculptor looked at the lump of granite or whatever and saw something in it nobody else saw. The genius of his masterpiece was to eliminate everything that did not belong there and allow the vision of that image to appear." Pg 71, A Disruptive Faith
This image we are to reveal is that of Christ.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Last Saturday of October
Saturday breakfasts are pretty rich in reflection. Receiving understanding of the Word-this is one of the ways I am blessed.
There are only two ways to live really, either by sight or by faith. Most times, we fall back on our sight and our senses and give up the confidence we are supposed to have in our God.
What if I distrust God's plans and seek to claim an inheritance for myself before time?
The Prodigal Son went to his father and asked him for his inheritance before the appointed timing.
It is a rejection of God's planned blessing for us.
We are often willful and always want to turn from Him and go our own way, mostly straightaway into sin.
The Lord has so much good in store for us. I wonder how He felt when I went off on a tangent, towards sin and relationships apart from Him. How grieved He must have been, when I had rejected the blessings He was preparing for me.
I have also been too concerned with my individual future and less with His macro purposes that all our lives are a part of. The need for holiness and preparation of the Church is more urgent.
What part may I/ we play in this?
*
Another thing I wonder, now with more curiosity; how do you weave two persons into one, and two lives into one?
Why also did God not make the woman in the same way as He made man, but took Adam's rib to make a helper for him? Was God not able to form a woman from dust and breathe life into her nostrils also?
Genesis 2:7
I was telling my sister this over dinner: I think it was for us to love our wives as they were as dear as a part of our own body.
If I cannot love my long lost rib as a part of myself, I cannot move on to love others less dear to me in the fulfillment of His command to love my neighbour as myself.
Whenever I see young parents and young children, I wonder when will it be my turn. In evaluating my readiness, I am still not ready no matter how I think of myself, but I will be in time.
In helping my young friends identify a good and suitable partner to raise a family with, I give you this: if she cannot wake up when she should on a normal day basis, you better think twice. If so, you will likely be the one feeding your baby in the middle of the night all the time. While I write for a male audience, but the reverse is also very true.
Motherly traits are a rarity nowadays, because almost nobody is teaching our young women those things in this generation. Raising children is much more important than physical beauty and vanity. But similarly, few men are interested in the former now.
*
In the gym today, one guy came up to me and asked me how I trained my legs (thighs). I was surprised because I was in the middle of my pull-ups and I thought he was asking me where did I get my Vibram Five Finger Shoes. Then I realized he was seeking some tips on how to strengthen his lower body.
I told him to do squats, and he then asked me what could I recommend him to strengthen his ankles.
My previous know-how in the weights room were mostly gone. I was unable to be of much help to him.
All I could tell him was that he could hang around to see because I'd be doing them in a bit.
And I did. Though not as heavy as the picture above.
Squats are important and beneficial for the whole body, because it activates most of the body's biggest muscles. Squatting heavy raises heart rate and the exertion has a huge physiological effect on metabolism and also stimulates the secretion of growth hormone. That's all I can remember.
Now I just think this way: they must be done.
Tan Kah Kee will be gone to Australia for 3 weeks. I wonder who will I be accountable to for my weekly excursions to the weights area. To myself? That would make a decent joke.
*
On Friday, I had tried to capture the combined lessons learnt in the months since I came to university into the newest volume of my journal, but I realized that I could not even finish with August. There was too much in a month to even read, much less capture.
He has given me brothers to fellowship with, whom we may relate with in honesty, sincerity and in truth. I have found people with whom I could be humble and broken with.
He has taught me to rest in His will and become more certain of His character.
In growing more sensitive to His Spirit, I've been taught the importance and relevance of holiness, of keeping oneself in purity, of being submissive to His will and of His goodness and faithfulness. We know it is worthwhile to retain knowledge of the Lord Romans 1:28,
It is better to have a constant diet of the Word and having spent time in prayer before moving out into the world. So many things we partake of and participate in grieve God's Spirit. What are the things we see and read and find funny, and what do we watch and think about?
Everything marked for righteousness and usefulness is under attack. The enemy aims to paralyze every spiritual man on this earth. He seeks to break off those who enjoy the connection with God's Spirit. If we like what the eyes see and do not discipline where we look, we will likely be led to sin.
Ephesians 5
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must be careful not to slip back into being the natural man who lives by the flesh.
We are to be watchful and prayerful and not fall asleep during our watch.
*
There is a need to strengthen my friends who are believers in school for if they are weaker in faith and their foundation in Christ is not strong, they will be swept away by the world.
The world loves to see Christians fall.
Our cultures have diminished and omitted Christ; they aim to make us godless, Christ-less and faithless.
This has always been the trend.
Lastly, can we believe a mere man's testimony about himself?
I had judged others with standards I myself have pretended to have met.
Sometimes I offend God by making requests and then I do not trust Him to deliver.
I have not learnt to rest in the confidence of my Lord's plans. I am fretful, not faithful.
But thankfully, I may know when the love of the Lord grows cold in my heart and go back to ask Him to pour His love by His Spirit into me.
There are only two ways to live really, either by sight or by faith. Most times, we fall back on our sight and our senses and give up the confidence we are supposed to have in our God.
What if I distrust God's plans and seek to claim an inheritance for myself before time?
The Prodigal Son went to his father and asked him for his inheritance before the appointed timing.
It is a rejection of God's planned blessing for us.
We are often willful and always want to turn from Him and go our own way, mostly straightaway into sin.
The Lord has so much good in store for us. I wonder how He felt when I went off on a tangent, towards sin and relationships apart from Him. How grieved He must have been, when I had rejected the blessings He was preparing for me.
I have also been too concerned with my individual future and less with His macro purposes that all our lives are a part of. The need for holiness and preparation of the Church is more urgent.
What part may I/ we play in this?
*
Another thing I wonder, now with more curiosity; how do you weave two persons into one, and two lives into one?
Why also did God not make the woman in the same way as He made man, but took Adam's rib to make a helper for him? Was God not able to form a woman from dust and breathe life into her nostrils also?
Genesis 2:7
I was telling my sister this over dinner: I think it was for us to love our wives as they were as dear as a part of our own body.
If I cannot love my long lost rib as a part of myself, I cannot move on to love others less dear to me in the fulfillment of His command to love my neighbour as myself.
Whenever I see young parents and young children, I wonder when will it be my turn. In evaluating my readiness, I am still not ready no matter how I think of myself, but I will be in time.
In helping my young friends identify a good and suitable partner to raise a family with, I give you this: if she cannot wake up when she should on a normal day basis, you better think twice. If so, you will likely be the one feeding your baby in the middle of the night all the time. While I write for a male audience, but the reverse is also very true.
Motherly traits are a rarity nowadays, because almost nobody is teaching our young women those things in this generation. Raising children is much more important than physical beauty and vanity. But similarly, few men are interested in the former now.
*
In the gym today, one guy came up to me and asked me how I trained my legs (thighs). I was surprised because I was in the middle of my pull-ups and I thought he was asking me where did I get my Vibram Five Finger Shoes. Then I realized he was seeking some tips on how to strengthen his lower body.
I told him to do squats, and he then asked me what could I recommend him to strengthen his ankles.
My previous know-how in the weights room were mostly gone. I was unable to be of much help to him.
All I could tell him was that he could hang around to see because I'd be doing them in a bit.
And I did. Though not as heavy as the picture above.
Squats are important and beneficial for the whole body, because it activates most of the body's biggest muscles. Squatting heavy raises heart rate and the exertion has a huge physiological effect on metabolism and also stimulates the secretion of growth hormone. That's all I can remember.
Now I just think this way: they must be done.
Tan Kah Kee will be gone to Australia for 3 weeks. I wonder who will I be accountable to for my weekly excursions to the weights area. To myself? That would make a decent joke.
*
On Friday, I had tried to capture the combined lessons learnt in the months since I came to university into the newest volume of my journal, but I realized that I could not even finish with August. There was too much in a month to even read, much less capture.
I came to university with the Lord, and reading August reminded me of how He has loved me and guarded me. I need to reflect on where I am in time, and in relation to my God and how I have been within His will and His protection. Or how I have removed myself outside of it.
He has given me brothers to fellowship with, whom we may relate with in honesty, sincerity and in truth. I have found people with whom I could be humble and broken with.
He has taught me to rest in His will and become more certain of His character.
In growing more sensitive to His Spirit, I've been taught the importance and relevance of holiness, of keeping oneself in purity, of being submissive to His will and of His goodness and faithfulness. We know it is worthwhile to retain knowledge of the Lord Romans 1:28,
It is better to have a constant diet of the Word and having spent time in prayer before moving out into the world. So many things we partake of and participate in grieve God's Spirit. What are the things we see and read and find funny, and what do we watch and think about?
Everything marked for righteousness and usefulness is under attack. The enemy aims to paralyze every spiritual man on this earth. He seeks to break off those who enjoy the connection with God's Spirit. If we like what the eyes see and do not discipline where we look, we will likely be led to sin.
Ephesians 5
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must be careful not to slip back into being the natural man who lives by the flesh.
We are to be watchful and prayerful and not fall asleep during our watch.
*
There is a need to strengthen my friends who are believers in school for if they are weaker in faith and their foundation in Christ is not strong, they will be swept away by the world.
The world loves to see Christians fall.
Our cultures have diminished and omitted Christ; they aim to make us godless, Christ-less and faithless.
This has always been the trend.
Lastly, can we believe a mere man's testimony about himself?
I had judged others with standards I myself have pretended to have met.
Sometimes I offend God by making requests and then I do not trust Him to deliver.
I have not learnt to rest in the confidence of my Lord's plans. I am fretful, not faithful.
But thankfully, I may know when the love of the Lord grows cold in my heart and go back to ask Him to pour His love by His Spirit into me.
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