When We Are Ready

I learned something important today about God's love for us.

We often wonder why God takes so long to bless us. We get frustrated when we do not get things immediately. We become impatient and start to question God.

I have asked the same questions whenever I wanted something badly. I become worried and frustrated when God does not seem to answer my prayers. I remember Him telling me, "Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you," and yet it does not seem to be the case at times.

Like everybody else, I have focused so much on those words that I have forgotten a much more important point. For after those immediately come the following verses "Who among you fathers if whose son asks him for bread gives him a snake instead?" Key words: father and son. The relationship that we should have with God is like between a father and a son!

How more often than not that we treat our relationship with God with a degree of impersonality? God has become too impersonal for us that we neglect to act as obedient children should do. God, as Father only wants the best for His children, and basing from His own judgment, he knows who we are and what we are capable of.

God knows who we are! He wants to bless us so much but He also knows that sometimes we are not ready. We are not ready to face the 'consequences' and responsibilities of His gifts. He knows how much we want things badly but He also knows that our characters are not prepared to receive those blessings. How often have you heard people pray for good health but yet are not committed to exercise everyday? Or individuals who want to find a good wife and get married and yet continues to be self-involved and selfish?

But then you may say, "But I have seen people in the world who got married and continue their self-centered ways." That is true, but just the same, that person was never ready for the responsibilities and most often the marriage ends up in painful separation or divorce.

God as our Father wants to bless us. But most importantly He wants obedience from us as His true Sons/Daughters. If you find yourself praying for the same things over and over again for a very long time maybe you should stop and reflect what God wants to change in you so that you may be ready to receive those blessings and the responsibilities that come with them. He is such a wise and loving God that He knows which gifts would help you or ruin you, which ones you can manage and you can not cope up with. As His true children, we receive this loving and extra special attention from God.

So next time we pray for things, our prayer should be "God, please prepare me for all the many blessings you want to shower upon me. May I have the right heart, mindset and character to be able to face the challenges of those gifts, that I may use them for the benefit of your kingdom."

It does not matter whether you are praying for a relationship, a good career, a new car, better lifestyle or having children, our Father would want to make sure that His Sons/Daughters are in the best position to receive it.

Praise and glory to God, the Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus Christ!

ANOTHER STORY...

I have told Raymond Wee about this story before.

I dreamt one night that some 'heavenly being' was instructing me about sharing my faith, and about the sin of commission and omission. Although I did not exactly see the 'heavenly being' I felt a wonderful curiousity and peace when 'he' was talking to me. Then before the dream abruptly ended the being mentioned the word batin. I did not know what that meant but I was sure it was some angelic language that was shared to me.

So I went and check what the word 'batin' meant. It was definitely not in the English dictionary or I would have come across it by now. What I did next is checked the internet. And to my surprise there is a word called 'batin.' Batin comes from the Arab language used in the Quran which means 'hidden.' A Batini is basically someone who devotes his time to read the Quran to decipher its hidden meaning. The fun part is not all can be Batini but only a select few!

Is it to say that I have been chosen to decipher the 'hidden meanings' of the Bible? I am not sure and I will not pretend to be. But it did inspire me to read the Bible more deeply and find God's message which most of us often do not recognize.

Let us all search God's real meaning and purpose in our lives through the Bible!

Acceptance of God's Grace through acknowledgment of sin

I got this text message from Andrew Oh.

"Something I have learned today is that a huge step to overcome our sinful nature:  we need to name our sins and claim ownership of them. If we live in denial, what we are saying is that we do not need God's grace and forgiveness."

How true  it is. The apostle Paul did say that as our transgressions increase so does the Grace of God increase in us for the forgiveness of our sins. But if we do not acknowledge the sin in us, then we are denying the power of the Grace of God. True humility involves the acceptance of our flaws, no matter how shameful they may be. For on judgment day our sins will be exposed anyway so it would be better to have confessed them now, repent and receive mercy rather then when it is too late.  

I am grateful of the Mercy and Grace that flows from God through Jesus Christ. I remember Shawn Wooten's story of the Ukrainian mother whose young daughter fell on a patch from the 9th floor of a building. She cried "God have mercy! God have mercy!" I was moved by those words. Do those words not reflect the exact same feeling we have everyday when we come across struggles in our lives? As we grow we realize how incapable we are of so many things and how many mistakes we have committed along the way. And yet, as Christians we can just call upon God's mercy and know that we will receive it. 

God knows the problems we are facing and the struggles we have to go through. Ever since Adam and Eve were sent out of Eden, man was cursed to work the ground and labor for his survival. So He sent His one and only Son to die for our sins so that Grace will be poured out freely to those who believe and have faith. 

Praise God for this salvation!  

One Year Christian

Hi Guys!

I know I have been gone for quite some time. But I'm quite pleased with how things have been working out for me.

By the way, I am one year Christian since March 4 and I want to thank all those who remembered and greeted me on my spiritual birthday. Although I was sick on that day itself, I am glad to say that I am on my way to recovery. I thank God who has been here for me and takes care of me. He somehow made sure that on the day I got sick, I have my sister with me to help take care of me. God has used her to show His power of healing.

I guess that is how miracle works sometimes. Some miracles may seem commonplace that we fail to recognize God's hand in it. Like the simple happening of my sister coming to Singapore to look for a job, God made her come just in time.

I know the new year bodes even greater and better things for me. I am sure and confident because my Lord is God, He is my Father and this is my Father's world (and besides this, Heaven of course!). I just have a few wishes as a one year Christian:

1 - To be fruitful
2 - For my sister and other family members to become Christian
3 - To grow even higher in my faith and devotion in God and Jesus
4 - To develop more friendships in the Kingdom

I really hope that you all can help me attain my wishes. In this case I have more than three- that's because I'm sure God is way more powerful than than the proverbial "blow the candle and make a wish."

Till next time!

Reflections on the Poor Widow

Poor Widow

Just want to share an insight about the poor widow who put in two small copper coins in the temple treasury. (Luke 20: 1-4)

Before, everytime I read this passage I always imagined that Jesus wants me to give more monetary contributions to the Church. But after being a Christian in our Church and being inspired at how insightful other Christians are when they read the Bible, I realize that there is more to this story than Jesus wanting more out of our pockets.

Certainly God appreciates a giving heart that does not hold back. To Jesus, the poor widow who gave her everything has definitely given more than the rich people who only gave part of what they can truly offer. To delve a bit deeper, I asked myself what does it mean to be a widow in those days? In 1 Timothy 5:5 Paul says "The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help." For someone to pray night and day to ask God for help sounds pretty desperate to me. And Luke says that the woman who gave the only money she had is a poor widow- being a woman in those days she probably had no work, maybe no relatives to look after her, could possibly resign herself to begging in the streets, and most definitely had no resources or property. And yet she gave all that she had and did not hold back.

Luke 21:1-4 however does not denounce the rich people who gave what what is due of them. But it certainly gives a contrast between a person who gives more than what is expected (the poor widow) and those who just gives what is required of them (rich people). This passage encourages me to give more than what is required of me. Not just monetary but in every endeavour I do for the Lord. Like by serving Him, instead of just doing what is expected of me, I should cheerfully do more by giving my time and putting in more effort. In Jesus' standards, it is simply not enough that we just fulfill our responsibilities, but we should make it a point to bring things higher and do more for the Lord.

In Church I see alot of Christians doing this. Those who use their precious time and energy to give more to God. There are the leaders, the choir singers, the ushers, those who prepare communion every Sunday morning, the disciples at Kid's Kingdom, etc. These are people who go the extra mile to serve our one true Master and Lord and Father. And I am confident that Jesus Christ is very pleased by the acts of sacrifice these people make.

Great Memories of 2007!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The Holidays have been a fantastic accompaniment to the ushering of the new year. Christians have been having a blast celebrating the ocassion of Jesus Christ's birth- sweet melodies of Christmas song filling the air, merry wishings and gift givings just warms up the heart and soul, making the spirit praise in joyous wonder.

Most important of all, is to thank the very person whose ultimate sacrifice to die for our sins gives us the reason for all our celebrations- Jesus Christ, whose birth and and human life all the way to his death on the cross has been a cause of inspiration on how we should lead our lives. His example has given us a chance of freedom from sin, freedom from the worries of this world, freedom from materiality and worldliness, and chance for eternal life.

I want to thank all the christians who have made my holidays such a perfect one. Thank you to Ely and Emman who convinced me to treat myself to the Christmas lights of Orchard on the day I was feeling so depressed due to homesickness. I can never be thankful enough how the christians made me feel so loved when they showed up in Orchard to encourage me. Thank you to Patrick, Weng Fatt, Alan and Su Fen, David and Shirley, Andrew, Victoria, Sandy and Celine for being so encouraging. Special mention to Sera, who really wanted to be there but unfortunately can't- I am sure the the night would have been even more fun if you came.

I also remember the great fun my Bible talk had during our Christmas party celebration. Raymond made sure that the event went well and truly, we had an unforgettable party. As Raymond puts it "The party was wild even before we had the Bailey's out." Haha! How true. Great food, great people and great ocassion to have fun equals a really great time!

Also unforgettable is the East coast over night that Gary's and Andrew's group plus plus had. Me and Ely were fortunate enough to be invited for the hangout and boy we sure had a blast! Christmas singing that turned to a christmas concert and a localized "Twelve gifts of Christmas" with Andrews hilarious one plate of chapati! Fireworks and candlelight on the beach, and whole lot of great time of fellowship- and more singing on the beach!

Then on Decmeber 29, I had one of the best dates I have ever had. Kelvin Pang, Wilfred and I decided to cook up a feast for the sisters with our signature dishes. Shepherd's pie, carbonarra, chicken chop, brownies plus a whole lot of wine!!! What followed is a great time of fellowship. (Thank you to my date Sandy for being such a great date and conversationalist.) Then when we thought the date was over, karaoke soon took over and the food feast easily became a song and dance party! Loved every moment of it.

And of course, who can ever forget the Year End party we had at church? We had a blast and dressing up for the event was fun in itself with me Ely and Emman taking pictures all the way. The 80's retro theme was wild and it is fun to see other christians dressing up in fun and hilarious costumes. If you ask me Phua Hee, Kelvin Pang, Sera, Victoria, Gideon and Zach were the best dressed for the night. Want to thank my dance partner Rupa who was great fun all the way. The night would have been different without you.

Well, for now that's it. Another new year has come and more great memories to make and look forward to. Thank you for the many names who are not mentioned here but are equally important to the unfolding of these events. To everybody, let us start the new year with a grateful heart and happy memories to carry us through. And most importantly, let us thank God who made all these things happen.