13 year old's prayer

Dear Lord,
             Today I learned that facing troubles may be hard but certainly having You, Lord, the burden is smaller.I learned that in spite of experiencing misunderstanding, rejection, You never were overcome by bitterness, discouragement and let it get to you. For You, obstacle was an opportunity, broken heartedness? An opportunity to comfort. Disease? An opportunity to heal. Hatred? An opportunity to love.Temptation? An opportunity to overcome. Sin against You? An opportunity to forgive. You Jesus turned trials to triumphs. May I be more like You.

Just Me.

This is Christmas

A year has passed, Christmas is here once again. My prayer for you is you will experience Jesus in a deeper level this Christmas and coming new year. Jesus loves us no matter what we do and what we have done, all He longs for is for us to welcome Him in our hearts. Let Him take you through all your ups and downs, allow Him to carry you on His shoulder as the storm comes and dance with you when victories won.

A touching christmas by Celine Dion. If you want to know Jesus, just call His name and invite Him to reveal Himself to you. Recognized that He has died for your sins and you have eternal life in Him.
He is a Savior, a friend indeed, He will answer your call.

Justin Bieber On His Faith In God

 It's great to hear people testify their faith in God especially when a famous artist who has a wide influence on the public declares it. Here are clips of Justin Bieber proclaiming his belief in Christ. I hope that his life will be a good testimony as well as what he has spoken. No one is perfect but we should all strive not to shame God with our bad actions/decisions.

	1 Peter 3:15 - But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Find Rest

Many people die young nowadays and we think it's the kind of food we eat however in this rat race society, stress has become one of the highest cause of heart attacks and other diseases. Why has it become this way, where money, fame, expectations, have overcome many. Those are just a few while many gets stress over many issues in life that they are not able to handle. Dreams shattered, jealousy, greed drives some to suicidal or to commit what they should not. All of us are needing rest and who other than God can give that peace that surpasses all understanding.

God says, "Come to me, all you are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest" Matthew 11:28

" Praise be to God who daily bears our burdens " Psalms 68:19

God says ,"My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest" Isaiah 32:18

" I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone O Lord make me dwell in safety" Psalms 4:8

Remember His promises and learn from those in the Bible who has learn to rest in Him. When we are troubled with decisions of right and wrong, remember ~
 This is what the Lord says, "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, asks where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."Jeremiah 6:16

Wallpaper Wednesday

Soul Surfer

I enjoyed this movie very much. It's a real and down to earth christian movie. It was a nice touch having Carrie Underwood to star in it, how I wish she would sing in this movie. 'Soul Surfer' teaches us to have faith in God no matter what happens, no matter how much it hurts not to understand the things that happens to us or around us. I admire Bethany Hamilton's perseverance and just like God has written in the bible that perseverance produces character. Truly she shows that maturity in her perseverance and she didn't give up on herself because she knew God didn't give up on her. And how God taught her there is so much He can bless others through her. Imagine a surfer losing an arm, imagine anyone losing an arm and trying to live the life they have always dreamed of , taken away in just a second. Watch the movie, highly recommendable. Read more here.

A Song For Sunday

 I'm eternally grateful to the Lord, remembering how He saved me and put a new heart in me. Praise you, Lord!

Today's Words of God

I know this is a long read but its worth a read. Constantly we find ourselves worrying about the least of things, trivial matters in life and we ask God where are our blessings when it is everywhere around us. I trust His Hands that brought me here will bring me through till the end.

Matthew 6

Do Not Worry

    ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

      

Matthew 7 ~ Judging Others

 ¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.   ³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
   ⁶ “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Ask, Seek, Knock

    ⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.   ⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

God Speaks....

"Too many noises, 

Too many choices,

Too many voices,

Why can't it be, just You and me!"

This tune just keep running in my head but i could not remember the song. I know its from a christian contemporary singer and I had this song in one of my cd collection. The song reminds me of what we face each day with choices, noises, and voices of many people including ourselves. Sometimes I wish I have a special earphone which tunes in to God only channel when I need them. However, no such ting, he he...

God wants us to train our spiritual ears to capture His voice, and that has to come with constant communication and spending in His presense. Have you ever had anyone tell you, that God says," I trust you with My Word ".in relation to using His Word for a purpose. What does that mean? I'm still searching for that answer wondering what purposes God will use me to exercise and use His Word. Trust is big word, which comes with big responsibilities.

My prayer today is that God will help me eliminate the unnecessary noises and voices so that I will always pick the better choices.

Strong Arm

How soothing to the soul, how comforted to know,

There is Someone who is always there,

To be anywhere and everywhere we go,

Whispering the right words when we can no longer bear.

Helping us to see the light in the night,

When all we see is everything is not going right,

His strong arm tugs, supports, holds,

Listen to His voice, lean on His strength, embrace all that His Love unfolds.

He says, "Just for you, My child"

"Just for you"

by Yours Truly

Clutter-Free Me

When do we reshuffle or clear out our wardrobe? When the necessary and the unnecessary number of clothings become colossal with little space left. Then that's when the mess and clutter begins.

Similar to our Christian walk,how we let the unnecessary mess to fill our lives that the necessity of our values,time,finances and our relationship with God and others are compromised. It gets cluttered and soon our priorities are not in the rightful places.


Here I am learning more from the author Robert Jeffress on being a clutter free Christian. Just reading the first few chapters, I am inspired to achieve what God desires of me. As I have known what God has planted within me the desire for a long time. The transformation needs the hand of God and my obedience. It can never be easy but it can be done. I hope you will be able to get this book as a source of guidance and inspiration.

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Dedication to the Survivors of September 11th

I hope you will be encouraged by this song. I was not in your position to go through the deathly scare or lost someone I care about in that tragedy but God knows all that you go through. He is your Hope though some of you might find it hard to believe. I pray you will experience His unfailing love.

The world may fade

You will remain

In the midst of the trial

You will always be, I'll sing

Our God never fails

Our God never fails

With hope and light

You reign over all

Though my heart may fail

You will always be, I'll sing

Our God never fails

Our God never fails

Praise in the morning

Praise in the evening

Praise when I'm laughing

Praise when I'm grieving

There will be dancing

There will be singing

Upon injustice we will tell of our God

The hope of all hearts

The hope of all hearts Is you

Your love never fails

Your love never fails

With hope and light

You reign over all

Though my heart may fail

You will always be all the same

Our God never fails

Our God never fails

Praise in the morning

Praise in the evening

Praise when I'm laughing

Praise when I'm grieving

There will be dancing

There will be singing

Upon injustice we will tell of our god

The hope of all hearts

The hope of all hearts Is you

Your love never fails

Your love never fails

In darkness,

In trial, my soul shall sing

Of his mercy, and kindness

Our offering of praise

Our God never fails

Our God never fails

In darkness,

In trial, my soul shall sing

Of his mercy, and kindness

Our offering of praise

Our God never fails

Our God never fails

Psalm 71:20

I believe and I will always believe, no trouble will take me down in any abyss of darkness, because my Lord will always hold me, bring me to safe grounds. Thank you, Lord!

Courtesy of free-christian-wallpapers.blogspot.com

Worship Intensive by Darlene Zschech (continuation...)

Please view previous post (videos) before viewing this. Thank you.

Part 3

Part 4 ending

Worship Intensive by Darlene Zschech

This is a fantastic teaching by Worship Pastor of Hillsong Church, Darlene Zschech. The first time I heard the teaching, I quickly find a way to download the video to remind me the purpose of worship each time I feel like I am not able to. I hope it encourages and helps you walk closer with God in an intimate way through worship. Here is Part 1 and Part 2 of the teaching. My next post will be Part 3 and Part 4.

Part 1

Part 2

Staying On You

Isaiah 26:3 
3You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.

I found this verse to be so profound and it speaks of promises that no one can ever fulfill except the Lord Most High. Sometimes it is true that God will help those who help themselves first but never without giving the blueprint and a map (Bible). We just got to stay on track with Him and merciful as He always is, He will nudge and pull us back if we go off the wrong way. 

As He has written in Isaiah 26:3 , pay attention to the words perfect and constant peace then whose mind is stayed on You, commits, leans, and hopes confident. Sounds so perfect and human nature perpetually fails to meet near its requirements. But is it impossible? I believe not (though I struggle immensely in this area.)


God is saying it is possible that we can train ourselves to capture God's divine peace in times of turmoil, to stand on the pool of peace with faith like a little child. When I read the word commits, leans, hopes confident , it reminds me on a little baby or toddler who fears nothing and is in perfect peace when in the arms of his mother. Like the world would crumble and he would know no fear because he knows his mother will do all she can to guard (to protect), keep him in perfect peace( away from harm).

Remind yourself of His promises each morning, memorize and keep it close to your heart.

I Am Thankful, Am Grateful to Him

How much faith do we have in our heavenly Father?

Matthew 7:11 "So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him."

I asked myself on my faith very often when I'm faced with difficult situations. The challenge of taking the step of faith is harder than being practical and go with our own wisdom. Many people say seeing is believing but with God, we walk in a different realm. What seem logical to others does not mean it has to be that way. God can make a donkey talk, divide the Red Sea, the phenomenal is even beyond God.

There are just times when unsaid prayers are answered but do we recognize the hands of God in it. I am convince with all my heart that the God who is in us (believers) knows what we need and though we do not ask but He knows when to give the right answers to our prayers, said or unsaid. Sometimes He just wants us to ask, just as a child makes request from his earthly father.

I am taking baby steps to walk in faith with My Father.I have grown in a deeper faith and hope He will lead me further. He has been faithful every step of the way and I hope I give Him more credit though no amount of praise is ever enough. But I know He will be glad that I trust Him.

I just want to say thank you, Lord! 

Be Positive!

 A verse to remind me of being positive and so I am reminding you the same....receive the positive and repel the negative :)

Proverbs 15:30 (ESV)

" The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones"

 

Eternal Cornerstone

A discussion on cornerstone arose during one of our cell group meetings and we were discussing why is the cornerstone of importance.

As some of us might know every building needs a good foundation which is why the cornerstone has to be straight and square. For that, the whole building will be straight otherwise a leaning building will not endure.  Free Dictionary defines it:

 cor·ner·stone also corner stone  (kôrnr-stn)n.

a. A stone at the corner of a building uniting two intersecting walls; a quoin.

b. Such a stone, often inscribed, laid at a ceremony marking the origin of a building.

Likewise, Jesus is the perfect cornerstone where spiritual house of God is built. And we are the stones that needs to align with the Cornerstone to have a strong foundation. When we get out of alignment, we need to measure against Jesus our Cornerstone to make sure we are right back on the correct spot. Many times we choose our own way and that causes an unstable house to rock instead of being firm.

1 Peter 2:6 (NIV)

⁶ For in Scripture it says:

   “See, I lay a stone in Zion,
   a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
   will never be put to shame.”^[a]

^{Let us choose to establish our lives in His precepts and experience a deeper level of faith in Him.}

The More I Seek

A love so deep that only He can produce and impart to us.

Seek Him, the true Love

That we may know what Love is.

The more i seek you,

the more i find you.

The more i find you,

the more I love you

I wanna sit at your feet

drink from the cup in your hand.

Lay back against you and breath,

hear your heart beat

This love is so deep,

it's more than I can stand.

I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming

All about Kari Jobe: http://www.musictory.com/music/Kari+Jobe

Hidden Your Word

Head knowledge does not suffice but heart knowledge will brings us beyond words and experiences that transform us from the inside out.

The grace of God enables us to live more than a conqueror and to live in abiding with the Lord. Ps. 119:11 speaks not about literal hiding but an imagery that speaks that God's word is alive within us and as we apply and do what He teaches, it becomes a weapon ( the sword of the spirit) to fight against sin of our flesh. "the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak", and that is something we face everyday, every hour, every minute and only Him can work through us to overcome. The Word is He and He is living inside of us. Isn't that incredibly awesome? What we cannot do, He can do through us and for us, if we just submit.

One Year's Manna

I am back to my bible reading and I have to give myself a pat on the back for getting back. There are many ways to read or study the bible and one of it is using this guideline to finish the bible in one year. You can print out for yourself through One Year Bible Online.

Sometimes I read the daily bread or other inspirational book to help me know more about the Word of GOd or God Himself but I know the best experience in a relationship with God is to study the Bible itself and asking God to reveal and speak to me. And a study bible would definitely help too.

We have pastors, teachers of the Word and bible studies that might help us in our walk with God but we can never disregard our own personal time with Him. The revelation we receive from God is priceless and an experience like no other. We may share the joy or learn from someone elses experience with God but to encounter God first handedly is profound and joyous. To be able to hear God tell you the things He wants to tell you is something each one of us believers need to achieve. Achieving that level of relationship is also a sign of spiritual maturity. Just as the Bible said when during the end times, we can get easily deceive and swayed and all the more we need to have the Word inside of us.

I hope I will be able to return to that position I once had with the Lord. Now is a start...

A Chili Sauce Lesson

I was having my lunch this afternoon when I had to learn a lesson that I already knew it was coming. A 'dejavu'. My lunch was 'Ba Chang', an asian food that looks like a pack of sticky rice glued together filled with meat,egg yolk and beans, a triangular shape to be exact. Anyway, I took out the chili sauce bottle from the fridge and found that it was almost finish so I had to turn in over and try to get the remains out. I shooked and I hit the base of the bottle and bit by bit it started to ooze out. I knew very well, there is a high possibility if I shake very hard, the sauce might fly to my tshirt. But I have chosen to ignore it and trying think my way out that it would not happen to me, it just would not. Alas, it did. A red spot on my pink tshirt. Idiotic!

Roman 7: 15 "For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate."

Sound familiar? It might not be just a spot of chili, sometimes this could happen on the road driving, at home, at work, at church, big and small choices we need to make in our lives that determines the next course of event. Somethings bad choices can even be a life and death consequence, but do we think? I found myself thinking that if I were to be a little patient and overturn the bottle of chili over a small plate, I would have avoided the trivial mishap. I just thank God, I could wash it right off with water instead of a permanent stain on it.

1 Corinthian 10:23 "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive."

 

There is no ending in growing matured, we will keep learning new things till we leave this earth. God allows us to draw strength and wisdom from Him in dealing with everyday life. He gives us a great gift, the gift of grace that empowers us to do the things we cannot, the power we receive to overcome many fears and weaknesses and the honor of having the Holy Spirit live inside us. God gave us a freewill , we are not His puppets but His children. And today I think God must be laughing at my foolishness. Oh chili sauce!

I Will Search For You

God says in His word, " You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13).The presence of God becomes increasingly real as we spend more time in His presence. It's interesting how Jesus left the diciples bewildered when He said He will be  going away yet He will always be with them. Soon enough they experienced the Holy Spirit living inside of them as He is living inside of each of us believers.

So is there a need to search for Him that is within us? Yes, in other words we need to connect with Jesus. That is 'seeking', it is all part of connecting and having a communion with Him. A time when God will bless us with His directions, and His grace to walk this life on earth, comfort us, lifting our spirits to face another day, a communion individually tailored for each one of us. A beautiful song to worship the Lord our God!

How precious how lovely
Are your thoughts oh Lord toward me
How truly amazing
Is the grace that You have shown
Oh Majesty I live to see Your face

I will search for You
And I will find You
I will find You with all my heart
I will lift my hands to You in worship
And I will worship with all my heart

How gracious relentless
Is the Father's love toward us
Breathtaking the beauty
And the radiance of You
Oh Majesty I live to see Your face
And be transformed
Into your image

Go From....

This is one particular page I felt inspired to become better. God always find ways to encourage us and help us look at a bigger picture but at times we put ourselves in a little box and say this will do. Jabez prayed for enlarged territory and that is what we should to as long as we pray according to the will of the Father. Believe in what God can do in and through you in this present day. Be strong and courageous for He is with you.

By John Mason from the book Impossible is Possible.
Go From..
... Burnout to being recharged
... Failure to learning
... Regrets of the pasts to dreams of the future
... Frustrated to focused
... Seeing God nowhere to seeing God everywhere
... Prejudice to reconciliation
... Ordinary to extraordinary
... Defective to effective
... Despiteful to insightful
... Whining to winning
... Lukewarm to "on fire"
... Security to opportunity
... Fear to faith
... Resisting to receiving
... Thinking of yourself to thinking of others
... Complaining to obtaining
... Drifting to steering
... Being a problem to being an answer
... Trying to committing
... Being a copy to being a original
... Envying others to serving others
... Ingratitude to thanksgiving
... Faultfinding to forgiveness
... Critism to compliments
... Alibis to actions
... Procrastination to progress
... Hesitation to obedience
... Blending in to standing out
... Fractured to focused
... Taking to giving
... Wishing to wisdom
... The world to the Word
... Being full of pride to full of God

I Just Want You, Jesus

No matter how unworthy we are, God says we are His Beloved,
Wages of sin is death but God sent Jesus to pay for it,
We were in bondage but God deliver us and make us victors
There is no wall between us, God made a way and came to us
How could we comprehend His way of love, God gave us Holy Spirit
If there is an absolute need, the need is Jesus.

I hope you will enjoy worshipping Him with this song as much as I do. It's the heart of worship that God desires from us and the kind of worship that brings out the sweet fellowship between God and us. Songs may move our emotion but only God can touch the depth of our soul, a touch that awakens the spirit man in us. It is so true that the love of God is none like any other, one that sees us through Jesus. And through Him, we are perfect in His eyes.

God is The Strength of my Heart

The things we go through in life can exhaust us mentally, physically, spiritually if we do not guard our hearts and our thoughts. From exhaustion leads to sicknesses, mental breakdowns, depressions, spiritual thirst and when we do not connect to our power Source, we get lost in the world of self pitiness not knowing we put ourselves in that position in the first place.

Why do we humans look for the lesser things that fulfills just for a moment when there are lasting fulfillments that we can find in the things that are eternal. Complicated beings we are but God is gracious to us truly in helping us find the right way.

Let's allow God to strengthen our hearts that we may stand against the world values and stand strong in the Word of God. He is our portion forever and He will not let us go through beyond what we cannot withstand. The anchor of our soul, He is!

Psalms 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Remembering Jesus at The Cross

 I'm glad my piano student introduced this song to me. Yahweh by New Life Worship, Ross Parsley. Besides the wonderful arrangement of the songs, I love the lyrics. Yahweh was actually spelt YHWH without the vowels and Yahweh speaks of who He is. There is so many meaning quoted by different authors but to me He is just forever. He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.

Resurrection Sunday is coming and today is Good Friday, let's remember what Jesus had done for us on the cross. His faithfulness is everlasting and no matter how far we are, He still there for us. Let us not forget to fellowship with God who loves us first and created us ,knew us even when we are at our mother's womb. He is sovereign! Be blessed by the song and worship Him with all of your heart.

Ps. Sandra Chin at Women Conference

It was 12 years ago when I was a teenager (without a doubt still youthful) that I've heard from Ps. Kenneth Chin. He was challenging in his preaching and have made an impact in my life then. And recently I had the priviledge of learning from Ps. Sandra Chin , the lovely wife of Ps.Kenneth Chin. She has been impacting women's lives for over 10 years through women conference and as I listened from her testimonies and sharing, I'm one of them. She's so funny, I could hardly keep my mouth shut from giggles or laughter. Sort of reminded me of Jim Carrey, no offence Ps Sandra, i meant it in a good way.

Some of the keys that I've picked out from Ps.Sandra is:
* Don't speak to the enemy
* Know your position in Christ
* Don't blame others
* Live dynamically and magnanimously

Women used to be second class, feeding into their insecurities and low self esteem. Nowadays it is not the case though some may still live in the past and remained second class in their mindset. God made us women beautiful in every way, an architecture that can never be copied and resold. Ask God today to show you how beautiful you are.

1 Peter 3:3-4
“Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” (NLT)


Proverbs 14:1
“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” (NIV)


1 Corinthians 11:11-12
“In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.”

Galatians 3:8
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

1 Timothy 3:11
“In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.”

Proverbs 31:30
“Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.” (NLT)

Hope you will be encouraged with the verses and remember God loves you from inside out.

God of My Forever

Sharing this worship song by City Harvest Church Singapore. 

Kudos to the composer of this song. Absolutely lovely.

Worship along and enjoy your fellowship with the Lord

Gideon Finally Believed

The morning air was fresh complemented by the bird's chirping and a little breeze coming through my window calms my soul. I talked with God and also asked Him if there are any stories or particular verses He would like to speak to me today. And soon with my Touchpoint bible NLT, i went to the topic of Decision Making. Truly as bible believing Christians , we know we should seek wisdom from the Lord for major decisions we need to make.
The verses that I read that stood out was..

Psalm 25:4 Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord; point out the right road for me to follow
- Right decisions are found to be inline with the truth found in God's word,  a humble prayer.

Proverbs 18:13 Intelligent people are always open to new ideas. In fact, they look for them.
- Not many people like to do this but I felt it helps alot along with seeking God.

Then finally it brought me to the story of Gideon and how God used a timid, fearful man to conquer the Midianites. The highlights of the story for me is this, I like to make it point form for easier reading.

1. Gideon was hiding away scared when God called Him.
2. He had the priviledge of seeing an angel of God face to face. *I prayed I would see too :)
3. God told him he would have victory over Midianites but Gideon asked for God confirmation 3 times. Even after having an encounter with the angel of God. God was nice enough to confirm for him instead of knocking his head and say" How many times do I have to tell you, then forget it, I'll get somebody else."
4. It was nice to read how God make the fleece wet but the ground dry and vice versa. Gideon finally believed that God will give victory to Gideon over the Midianites after 3 confirmations.
5. To show the Israelites that God is truly with them, He asked Gideon to cut the army down to just 300men to win over 10000 Midianites or more. Wow!
6. And finally they won, Gideon also received prosperity through the ornaments he took from the enemies. Sad to say after Gideon had passed away, the Israelites went back to worship Baal.

Read it on your own, allow God to teach and encourage you through Gideon at Judges 6 - 8. God Bless!

God in Everything

A life without involving God is a life of recklessness, a series of ups and downs, a repetition of mistakes and similarly to sitting in a car without a driver.

How do we stay connected with Him?

We need to spend time with Him (studying the Word, talking to him, praying for others, worship Him) and the real application comes in the life we live.  

And God should be in Everything that we do.

Just like a husband and wife needs their intimate moments together so do we with the Father. A time where no one or nothing can intrude. Receiving first hand from God is the best and the experience will keep you wanting more. Whatever teaching resources that helps us to grow closer to God and read the Word more, that is an encouragement tool to keep, but if it makes us depend on that resource to know God more, then that is a distraction. A distraction that pulls you away from being directed connected to Him.

Paslms 84:1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
2  My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
4  Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah

Peace in Turmoil

The wind was breathing hard and swifting through the trees right outside my house, makes me think about the tsunami in Japan. How many lives affected and tears shed. A history made by Tsunami.

I whispered a prayer for the victims that they will find refuge and peace in God. I hope through this unsightly event, people will turn to God and not away from Him.
God does not promise us bed of roses but a rainbow after the rain. Life may not be what it seems however we have something to look forward to as earth is just our temporary home. God and the angels awaits us in heaven with a new body and a mansion for each of us.

May we find Him even in the midst of storms and know He is sovereign above all. My anxious heart became stilled as I remembered who God is. He is my Prince of Peace.

You are Special by Max Lucado

A beautiful simple story especially for the young hearts but a gentle reminder to the rest of us of how much God cares for us.
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But aseek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

In Christ Alone

Our church's theme for this year is "Christ in You, the Hope of Glory"
And the timely message collides and integrated with what God inspired me to thrive on this year. His revelation for me reveals a song to immerse on until its embedded deep within me, the song "In Christ Alone"

My pastor spoke on "What do we want to do through this (church) theme?" and he gave 4 points:-
1. Finding sufficiency in Christ alone
2. Resting in the finished work of God
3. Growing in grace and Word of God
4. Walking in favor and identity in Christ

I was listening to Brian Littell singing In Christ Alone one morning and every word sung seems to make my heart beat a little faster and the inner voice prompts to dwell on Christ's love for me. Reminding me that what's ahead of me is God's orchestrated path but I have to walk in it and remember that He took me there.

I face new challenges in this year 2011. I made a mental note on every little blessings I receive, i give glory to God. Even if it is just a good idea, even if it is the smallest best decision made, even if its a small problem solved, i tell myself it is the One who lives in me that enables me to do what I do that's right. Though my errs is never absent , it becomes a small speck in a white sheet of cloth, and before any more specks can be added to it, the one prior to it will no longer be visible.Thats the work of God!