The Rainbow - A Picture of Peace, the Emblem of Mercy

I have not been writing, not because I have been busy but it was the time of the dry season in this period of time. Praise God, after prayer meeting tonight I was much lifted up a I was reading this passage in Revelation 4 especially verse 3 "He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like a emerald."
The sky that was dark and sinister with rain clouds boiling and thunder rolling. Suddenly a thin ray of light appear, then another and yet another.As the rain ends, the sun breaks through and the dark clouds melt. A shimmering rainbow appear, heralding fair weather and hope. How wonderful!
The rainbow was probably designed to be symbolic s well as beautiful. From its own nature and associations, t has always been an emblem of peace. It contrasts beautifully with the tempest that has just been raging. If the rain has been gentle, the leaves and flowers would appear clothed with new beauty, if the storm has rages violently, the rainbow is a pledge that the war of the elements has creased.
Oh yes, therefore the rainbow around the throne is a beautiful emblem of the mercy of God and of the peace that is to pervade the world as the result of the events disclosed to John in his vision. True, there were lightnings and thundering and voices, but there the rainbow abode calmly above them all, assuring us that here was to be mercy and peace.
We can count on it. Life will have its share of lightning and thunder, many things will be washed out,tragedy and sorrow will touch every life. But this too is a fact that we can count on. For the child of God there will surely be a calm after the storm that makes the storm pale by comparison. So take hear. The rainbow in the clouds is a divine reminder from God that all is under control. As God's own dear child, look to the day when we will see God's heavenly rainbow emerge to signal the peaceful reign of Christ and the fulfillment of all His promises.
Praise Him for His faithfulness to His promises and His people yesterday, today and forever.

Transcending Time, Touching Eternity

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8)
It always happen that some people are never around when we need them.When help or encouragement is needed their phone is out of order. But you can never say of the Lord, yes by His own testimony to the apostle John, He has always been with His people in the past, is with them now, and will stay ever faithful in the future.
Although we human being finds ourselves trapped by time, Jesus Christ has time in His hand. This is done by the every action taken at the Cross 2000 years ago. Whoever offered a sacrifice and while doing so, remembered the true Lamb, who was slain for the sins of the world, was saved through faith in the Christ who would come. Whoever did not do this was not saved, even though he had a thousand oxen to sacrifice.
There is only one and the same salvation from Adam to Abel onward; it is the same salvation we have. It continued until Jesus Christ Himself come. But now, of course, it is no longer faith in the future Christ but in the Present One. The teaching has been one and the same from the beginning of the world and shall remain so until the end of the world. There has at all times been one and the same Christ, a Christ who is in the past, present and future - the One " who is, and who was, and who is to come."
Yes to the past..to the future, Christ reaches eternally in both directions. Yet He also find time to be an "ever present help in trouble." That is a comforting thought when present circumstances are difficult and the future looks bleak. He whom time cannot change has all the time in the world to watch over us ........ yesterday, today and tomorrow. Bless you and have wonderful time enjoying His presence and His fresh touch this weekend, I pray.

Time for a Test

Reflecting on the issue on why must I be in church? It can only be us, our relationship and attitude toward God, toward His Word and how deep is our love for Him. Is there a lesson to learn here, yes...yes..yes! A time of testing, definitely yes and without doubt.Then testing of what? Testing our spiritual experience against the timeless standard of God's Word, I believe. This is another exam we cannot effort to miss, the test to help us distinguish between false spirit holding onto to us, the evil spirit around us and God 's Spirit. "Dear friend, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God." (1 John 4:1)
"The seeker after God's best is always eager to hear from anyone who offers a way by which he can obtain it." Yes how we long for some new experience, some elevated view of truth, some operation of the Spirit that will raise us above the religious mediocrity we see all around us. So we make excuses and seek it everywhere except in Him and with Him. Our Lord has made it plain not only that there shall be false "spirits" abroad, endangering our Christian lives, but that they may be identified and known for what they are!
The first test must be: "What has this done to my relationship with and my attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ? Do I love God more? Is Jesus Christ still to me the centre of all true doctrine?
Again: "How does it affect my attitude toward the Scriptures? Did this new view of truth spring from the Word of God itself or was it the result of some stimulus that lay outside the Bible? Be assured that anything that comes to us from the God of the Word will deepen our love for the Word of God!"
O my prayer for those out there who asking the question"Why church?" is "Father, now is a good time to test ourselves and see if we are growing in our walk with YOU. May we find a deeper love for YOU, Father: Amen."

A Heart persuaded that all is well.

Lately there seem to be a new wave on the blog regarding the question of church. The need to go and worship on Sunday, finding hard to blend into the church and so on and so forth.I just wonder what is the cause and issue at hand? Can we look around us and find out why? So often everyone can point to errors of judgment, performance and hurts that have caused problems for others. But often the memories of such painful moments can linger longer after the offense has been forgiven.
No it is not the harsh criticism berating you but the silent accusations of your own heart, the inner turmoil of conscience only you and God can hear, others may forget but somehow you can't.
"Whenever our hearts condemn us... God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything" (1 John 3:20) The meaning here seems to be that we shall allay our doubts and produce a state of quiet and peace by the evidence that we are of the truth. Our consciences are often troubled by past guilt. But, in furnishing the evidence of true piety love to others, we shall pacify an accusing mind, conciliate our own hearts and convince ourselves that we are truly the children of God.
In other words, though a person's heart may condemn him as guilty, and though he knows that God condemns the sins of the past, yet his mind may be soothed by evidence that he is God's child and that he will not be finally condemned. We do not have to attempt to conceal the fact that there is much for which our own heart and conscience might justly accuse us but finds in spite of all this and persuaded that all will be well. The heart can only be kept calm by such a course of life that God and our own hearts shall approve the manner in which we live.
Reminders of the past are best remedied by thoughts of our present life in Christ. Indeed, without Him life would be one dark memory. When God has forgiven us and has buried our past in the deepest sea, He also puts up a "No fishing" sign and He means it! God bless

Reason to Worship

"Then the man said,"Lord, I believe," and he worshipped Him. (John 9:38)

This is a front page story, a man born blind received his sight, a miracle which the Pharisees found disturbing. For the more they investigated, the more they were faced with a decision regarding the Sight- giver. They are unwilling to admit in their unbelief what the man born blind was only to willing to acknowledge. "Believing with the heart, the man professed his faith in Christ: "Lord, I believe you to be the Son of God." Oh yes! He not only gave HIM the civil respect due to a great man but he gave HIM the divine honour and WORSHIPED HIM as the SON of GOD come in the flesh.
None but GOD is to be worshiped, and by worshiping Jesus, the man acknowledged HIM to be GOD. True faith will show itself in humble adoration of the Lord Jesus. Thus we who believe in Him will see all the reason in the world to worship Him.
Therefore as we cope with the trails that come our way, let the account of this miracle comfort us. Let God know that, though we may not understand the "why" of our suffering, we do rejoice that He will be glorified by its outcome. Regardless of our circumstances, He is worthy of our confidence and our worship. Praise God.

Who do I have?

"Listening is rare". We need the certain people to whom we feel we can talk because they have such a deep capacity for hearing, not just our words, but hearing us as a person. They enable us to communicate on a level we have never reached before. They enable us to be as we have never been before.We will never truly know ourselves unless we find people who can listen, who can enable us to emerge, to come out of ourselves, to discover who we are. We cannot discover ourselves by ourselves. Note the words "there are certain people… who enable us to be as we have never been before." Those are the people we need most.
Who is my coach? The older, wiser, and more experienced person who would stand on the sidelines of my life watching out for me and at the same time having the bigger picture in his mind all the time? A coach who doesn't try to run the race for me but sets the standard for the race and makes a judgment on my performance.

Who does this for me? Who stretches my mind? Who makes me wince as he exposes the many faces of my ignorance; who will not let me get away with Spiritual and intellectual superficiality. Who listens to and encourages my dreams? Dreams are not intellectual propositions that must be proven. They are the work of visionaries; they are out-of-the-box, frequently awful and occasionally good. These are the folks who, when others laugh and say I am trying to build castles in the air, remind me that God is ever unchanging and never forsake His child, that He is the one Who protects and cares for me?

When the Christians in Jerusalem wanted nothing to do with the newly converted Saul of Tarsus, Barnabas acted as his advocate. You don't have enough voices. You need others to speak up for you. Who shares your tears? Mary of Bethany was the only person in the room who understood what Jesus was going through as He came closer to His hour of death. She alone shared His tears.
Who is close enough to us to pick up the signals, to sense when fears and tears need to be shared? Yes, there are times when we need a pep talk or a boost, but there are also times when we need to be encouraged, to process our emotions. Who does that for us? Who rebukes us? Even with our 20/20 vision, one pair of eyes is not enough. We have blind spots. Satan is always ready to remind us of our good qualities. But a true friend is the one who exposes and challenges our self-seeking, self-pleasing and self-dependence, and helps us to restore to God the authority that we have robbed Him of. Who seeks God with us? Praying together to keeps us honest. It also keeps us dependent on God. We are reluctant to open up, to get real about our areas of struggle. Yet it's only in the honesty of shared prayer that we draw closer to God - and to one another.

Unity, unity....much used and said word!!!!!!!

Yesterday we had a visiting speaker to take the pulpit ministry, the needed break I long for so much, praise GOD!.

He was sharing about unity in prayer, and I was only pondering over this subject as I was asked to meet up with a fellow pastor who seemingly felt that I have encroached into the so called turf as I reached out to some unsaved students in the local university. I was asking God why all these issues, are we not to have Kingdom mentality. Hey there are thousands of students out there and I am only searching and reaching out to the non Christian. My heart wrenched out in pain as I seek the Lord.
I thank God for revealing to me, to lift me up again as I read His words, "So we all agreed... it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements" (Acts 15:25, 28).

Controversy among churches is nothing new. Where two or three are gathered together, there we will find difference of opinion, but sad that church would spend so much time in debate...that has more people trying to fix blame than are trying to fix the problem.

Consider His word "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us." Communion with Christ by the Holy Spirit lies at the very root of that expression. Also, an outcome of this is the unity of the church by the Spirit. And finally there is the unanimity of the Spirit and the church. This picture of the council in Jerusalem is that of a company of men and women, sharing the life of Christ, desiring only to know the mind of the Lord, having no selfish views for which to contend. These are the conditions upon which it is possible for any such assembly to say, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us." Can the church say this today? Hey I am not judging but what can I say as I want only to do His work in that vast mission field. Can we come to unanimity when we are prepared to discuss our absolute difference freely and frankly, not my turf and your turf but on the basis of common desire to know the mind of the Lord.

God I surrender it to you for it is not the colour of the curtains but the quality of the commitment to Christ that makes your church effective, the church which you have give me shepherd.

Grace for our journey

When will we be there? Is it much further? Oh yes how long still, how many more minutes or hours? Often we get tired, tired quickly of the troubles that crowd us, tired of the trouble of this world. Yet what is suffering for "a little while" in anticipation of the glory that is to follow?

"A little while! Compare it with the eternal years, with the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, with the compensation that awaits us.

My friends, there is a limitation to our suffering. It is only for a little while, but every moment has been fixed by the immutable purpose and love of God. We shall not suffer one moment more than is absolutely necessary for our perfecting of God's glory, and for every moment there is an ample supply of grace.

What a banquet that will be when God will satisfy the expectation of those whom He has called to partake of it! And the suffering is being used in ways we cannot understand in perfecting, establishing and strengthening us. God brings forth His hosts in the day of battle. It is not so much of an affliction as of the love of Christ, and the blessedness of being like Him and with Him forever.

Arriving at our destination, the memories of pain and fatigue along the journey quickly fade. My friends, we have a destination worth the cost of any trip. "Eternal Glory" is the name engraved above the gate. And it is one way journey we will never forget!

In the Master's service

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.: 1 Peter 4:10.

A person who boasts of his gifts as if they were part of him often is not at all concerned about what becomes of God's honour or welfare of his neighbour. The Apostle Peter reminds us to attend to our occupation and faithfully do whatever is demanded of us. For no work is nobler than obedience in the calling and work God has assigned to each one. Many fickle, unstable believers think to much of themselves to continue in their calling. They stir up nothing but mischief and have no grace to do anything good. For they do not use their talents in the service for their neighbour; they use them only for their own glory and advantage.

Self promotion has a way of crowding out self sacrifice. Self promotion says, "hold on to what you have, and use it to your fullest advantage." Self sacrifice says, "be willing to release what you have, that you might become God's channel of blessing in the life of another.

Matthew 27:40, 42 The taunts were loud and ugly: "come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God... He saves others....but he can't save himself!" The crowd had jeered. If they had only known...... What they were seeing was not limited power but limitless love. "Freely you have received," He told His followers. And you might have excepted what He said next: "Freely give." (Matthew 10:8).

Showing ungrudging hospitality to other Christians means more than opening your home to them. It means making room in your busy day to pray for them. It means gladly sharing yourself and all you have and are. I pray and praise God that as you make room in your heart for others, you do so because He has made your heart His home. God bless.

The healer of the broken hearted

Is there a wonder adhesives or miracle glues? I wonder with all our know-how there must be a way to fix anything. Yet science has yet to discover a product strong enough to mend broken heart. Then how, for this we have to go to the Person who specializes in such matters. He is our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who, in the final days of His life on earth, surveyed the city of Jerusalem...... and what He saw made Him weep. "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how often I have longed to gathered your children together....but you were not willing" Matthew 23:37. What was His tear about?

From Adam's day to ours, tear have been shed, and a wail has gone up from the broken-hearted. And it remains a mystery to me how all those broken hearts can keep away from Him who has come to heal them. Jesus must have often looked up to heaven and sighed. I believe it was because of so much suffering around Him.

It was on His right and on His left.........just everywhere on earth. And the thought that He had come to relieve us of our burdens, yet, yet....yet so few would accept Him, must have made Him sorrowful. Do you think that there is a heart out there so broken that it cannot be healed by Him? Yes He can and will heal them all. But the great trouble is that people won't come.

Jesus wept over a city, not for its building, but for its people. People like you and me.... broken hearts and broken spirit. People in need of repentance and repair. Though He wept, He can tenderly wipe the tears from our eyes. For He is the mighty God who cares. He is the mighty physician, capable of healing every wounded heart brought to Him. But we must be willing to put ourselves under His care. He has so much to give, but so few are willing to receive. I pray let those few include you. God bless.

Where is my family, I am lonely?

The long weekend has started, just wondering how many will be there for this Sunday worship service as all the students have made the exodus back home. Suddenly I am overwhelmed by the loneliness in my own study praying and reviewing my sermon for tomorrow. Where is my extended family? Is there a glue to hold the family together? Yes surely yes! The "it" of that oft-voiced sentiment may be a place, a person or even a tradition. But whatever the "glue", it is certain to be something that the whole family shares in common. Christian too are members of a family. And the glue that holds this diverse family together is the Holy Spirit. I am glad I still have the family no matter where they are, thus I can sigh with relief that I am never alone, they are linked together with me through our Lord. The more important one is, I am in His family...He is my FATHER. O God I am link and hook up with YOU.
The word "communion" signifies "having in common." It is used of our fellowship with one another and with God. The bond of such fellowship is always through the Holy Spirit. The blessed Spirit unites the Person of the Trinity to each other, and us to them, and secures the oneness for which our Saviour prayed.
How wonderful it is to have the privilege of this divine fellowship! That we need never be alone again; that we can at any moment turn to Him for direction; that we may draw on His resources for every need; that it is impossible to exhaust His willingness to counsel and sustain; that there is no service or suffering into which He is not prepared to enter with us! Surely, if we would but give ourselves time to realize these marvelous privileges, there would be no room for the despondency which threatens to deprive us of hope.
Such divine union as lies within our reach certainly demands on our part watchfulness, a tender conscience, a yielded will, and a heart which has no other love, nothing that is inconsistent with the Spirit's fellowship.
"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" 2 Corinthians 13:14. God bless you all.

Pleasing God!

Sin has a subtle way of taking hold of us. Sometimes it is almost parasitic, slowly maturing until it encrusts our heart with its deadly growth. Each day has its own challenges, responsibilities and problem. Each can be faced only one at a time. How I want to hear your voice so as not to harden my heart in order to encourage others.

We may get the things which tempt our desires; and there will be no illusion at all about the reality of the pleasure. But another question must to be asked. "You have received the things you wanted; what then? Are you much the better for it? Is it as good as it looked when it was not yours?

"Is it as blessed now that you have stretched your hand and make it your own as it seemed when it danced there on the other side? "Having attained the desire, do we not find that it fails to satisfy us fully?

Lord I want to please you, teaches me how to avoid sin. Help me to listen carefully whenever You speak to me through its pages. Cause me to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ and to draw strength from their example and fellowship. Above all, Lord, grant me a soft, teachable heart, one that beats strongly for You, one that will not be enticed by worldly pleasure. Lord, keep my heart focused on pleasing You.

Spititual fatigue

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? The last few days I have been reading of so many heart tearing struggles seemingly out in the blogsite. I remember an old hymn -
Art thou weary, art thou liguid,
Art thou sore distress?
"Come to Me", saith One, "And coming Be at rest."
Hath He marks to lead me to Him
If He be my Guide?
In His feet and hands are wound-prints,
And His side.
Finding, following, keeping, struggling,
Is He sure to bless?
Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Answer, "Yes".
As I read this and the many postings there was a silent sigh in my heart, a twinge of spiritual fatigue...... a deep and abiding weariness. Why Lord do you permits us to go through all this? Lord I want to join the crowd and wave the white flag, shouting, "I surrender! I give up!" I have decided to bail out, to throw in the towel, to give into discouragement and give up. There is nothing wrong with that or is it?
Our pace, the noise, the interruptions, the deadlines and demands, the daily schedule and the periodic feelings of failure. I am getting very weary of the fight, of the constant bombardment and shelling targeted into my life, hey I did not ask to be in a war zone?
I was brought back to earth as I remember Paul writing in Ephesians 2:14, "For He Himself is our peace" and the very word of our Lord in Matthew11:28 " Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. for My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
There is nothing wrong with feeling weary, but there is everything wrong with abandoning ship in the midst of the storm. Growing weary is only natural and the consequence of many experiences, they are not bad but exhausting. Many of the things we go through maybe fine with many others but as for us our strength has its limit, we are make different. Before long the fatigue will cuts our feet out from beneath us. The longer the weariness lingers, the more we face the danger of that weary condition clutching our inner man, strangling our hope, our motivation, our spark, our optimism, even our encouragement. Oh how I want to "sustain this weariness" As I mediated on the passage I had a new understanding that God does not dispense strength and encouragement like a doctor filling out a prescription for our sickness. The Lord does not promise to give us something to take so we can handle our weary moments. He promises HIMSELF. That is all and that is enough. In the place of our exhaustion and spiritual fatigue, He will give us rest. All He asks is that we come to Him, that we spend a while thinking about Him, meditating on Him, talking to Him, listening in silence , occupying ourselves in Him totally and thoroughly lost in the hiding place of His presence. "Consider Him..... so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:3).
Don't lose heart! Are you weary? Heavy laden? Distressed? Come to our Lord. Come immediately, come repeatedly, come boldly, give Him your load of care and be at rest. God bless you.

Being God's servant

Still thinking of my morning sermon. Yet another Sunday has slip by with this questions flicking on my mind. What standard of measurement do I tend to use to measure my work for God? How does God measure my success for Him? If I feel weak, limited and ordinary,what kind of material am I?
The call to salvation is a call to be on mission with God as He reconciles a lost world to Himself through Christ. This calling requires that I be a servant of God. Jesus gave me the best model of servanthood, which was both humble and obedient. As a servant I must be moldable and remain available for the Master's use.
Even I am just another ordinary person, I know and pray that God will prepare me and then He will do His work through me, revealing Himself to a watching world.
Yes God, that is my one desire today to be your servant, to see You accomplishing things through me that only You can do. Yes I can do nothing on my own.I know that I cannot achieve the success that You call me to achieve. I depend entirely on You to do Your work through me. I know You can do anything You choose to do. I give myself to You completely.Work though me any way You want to work. Show me where You are at work and include me in that work. I will not question Your call, I will do the work You show me. Help me to build your church which you have put unto my care. Lord accept the worship of Your servant today.

An Anchor in the Storm of life

Trust and obey, trust and obey for there is no other way. As as I remember this Sunday school song I just wonder how true the Christian concept of hope is not a wishful "I hope so" attitude, but a confident expectation .

In this world, we do not stand on firm ground but are tossed about as as if we were on the sea. Satan incessantly stirs up innumerable storms that would sink our vessel if we did not cast our anchor fast in the deep. Waves arise and threaten us. But as the anchor is cast through the waters into the dark and unseen place and keeps the vessel from being overwhelmed, so must our hope be fixed on the invisible God. But with this difference, the anchor is cast down into the sea with the earth as its bottom; but our hope soars aloft, for in the world it finds no created things on which it can stand. It rests on God alone.

As the anchor joins the vessel with the earth, so the truth of God is a bond that contacts us with Him. Thus when we are united to God, though we must struggle with continual storms, we are still beyond the peril of shipwreck.

Faith in God has been likened to a leap in the dark. In reality, it is leap from the dark into the light of truth.God's word is a spotlight for those yearning to follow God's will. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and alight fro my path" (Psalm 119:105).

Those are comforting words when the storm of life make shipwreck seem imminent. Have a blessed Sunday and the week ahead.

Waiting in the Strength of Hope.

Waiting, watching, working that is how life spins around us. Have been waiting quite a lot lately. Waiting for help, waiting till my ship finds its course or even comes in, waiting for sympathy, waiting for a friend without whose presence there seems to be nobody on the face of the earth. Waiting..........waiting!!!!!

There are two types of waiting: waiting because we have to, and waiting because we want to. The story about the people around the pool at Bethesda waited because they had to, they needed to bathe in the healing waters. One man had waited years to be healed. But when approached by Jesus, the man found himself being asked,"Do you want to be made well." These folks were all waiting, groaning, sighing. A sigh was a prayer, a groan was an entreaty, a cry of distress was a supplication.

This world is a hospital. The person who is in the most robust health today may be struck before the setting of the sun with a fatal disease. Only this week I received three tragic news, the sister of my former cell member has only a month to live says her doctor, a friend only 45 years old while driving had a heart attack and knock down two people, they are in critical condition as he is. Another former cell member was knock down by a motor cycle and is warded with a broken collar bone and eight fractured ribs. In the midst of life we are facing death.

"Life is a perpetual crisis; it can snapped at any moment." But blessed is that servant who shall be found waiting, watching and working when the Lord comes.

How then do I wait? Does waiting means patience, hope, contentment, assurance that God will redeem His promises and make the heart strong; or is it fretfulness, impatience, distrust and complaining, this kind of waiting wears out the soul.

O God, my Father teach me what it means to wait on You for my every need. You have promised to provide in Your time. Guard my heart from fretfulness and complaining, and make my heart strong to hope. Please take courage if you are trotting along this path like me, that one man who waited was healed so can we no matter what the situation is. God bless.

Cause and Effect of Spiritual Matters.

Our relationship with God, established by faith, is the only basis for peace of mind and satisfaction. Lately I have been pondering on the cause and effect expressed in this statement.

Scientific inquiry always looks for the cause and effect relationship between observable phenomena. But what if, like the chicken or the egg dilemma, the effect also happen to be the cause? This would ensure a vicious circle.

For the Christian there is another question that deserves an answer. "Which comes first - faith or obedience,unbelief or disobedience?"

Disobedience is the root of unbelief. Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience. Faith is voluntary submission within a person's own power. If faith is not exercised, the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual reasons, it lies in the moral aversion of human will and in the pride of independence which says "Who is Lord over us? Why should we have to depend on Jesus Christ? As faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, but unbelief leads on to higher handed rebellion. With dreadful reciprocity of influence, the less one trust, the more he disobeys; the more he disobeys, the less he trusts.

Which cause/effect relationship is at work in my life: faith and obedience, or unbelief and disobedience? The question is worth careful study for eternity is at stake.

Perhaps John the Baptist said it best: "whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (John 3:36).

The chicken and egg controversy may never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. But don't let that keep you from resolving the most important question in your life; your relationship to the Lord.

Confident Hope

It tears my heart when each time I see the enemy succeed in undermining the simple trust of a child of God and gotten him into self-accusation and condemnation.

It is a fearful place when the soul allows Satan to take the throne and act as God, sitting in judgment on its every thought and act, and keeping it in the darkness of ceaseless condemnation. This is Satan's objective point in all his attacks upon you: to destroy your trust. If he can get you to lose your simple confidence in God, he knows that he will soon have you at his feet.

But.......... "For my souls that has known the sweetness of God's love, to lose its perfect trust in Him is enough to wreck both the reason and the life. Beloved "Hold on to ............. courage ......and hope."

In the children's story "The little engine that could" the little engine climbs a steep incline by puffing, "I think, I can, I think I can, I think I can!" We can draw courage from a true story of infinitely greater importance - the story of "The Mighty Savior Who could........and Did!" And what did the Savior do? He conquered sin and death by climbing the hill of Calvary and declaring."It is finished!"

By looking to Him for courage, you can meet any situation that lies ahead of you."I can......I can.....I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. (Phil.4:13)

Connect.......connect!!!!!!

Can I go on with life and do not have friends? Do I believe it is possible to be a good Christian without having godly friends? Yes just relocate my family, where are my friends? They are back in KL Here in Melaka it seem so hard trying to connect with people.

Well, I wonder if, if? Have you ever had a conversation in which you feel that you have really bonded? Occasionally when talking with someone else, it is almost as if your souls open up and you connect. You moved beyond the "Hi, how are you?" You have connected.

Or do you ever have one of those conversations in which you just don't connect? No matter how hard you try,you feel that you just can't get through to that person. You could be talking to your teenager, and they look at you like you are from another planet. Or it could be your spouse.You can usually connect, but for whatever reason it is just not happening at that moment. We desperately need others to understand us- to know how we feel, and for us to understand how they feel. We want to be connected.

A study done by the Mental Health department of US discovered that if you are disconnected to other people, there is no one in your life that you rally feel understand you,you are two to three times more likely to die an early death, you are four times more likely to suffer from emotional burnout, you are five times more likely to suffer clinical depression and you are ten times more likely to be hospitalized for an emotional or mental disorder. Human connections are good medicine.

Proverbs 27:9 says."A sweet friendship refreshes the soul." There is something about an intimate relationship that refresh us spiritually. We were designed for intimate, loving relationships in which we are to enjoyed. simply for who we are and not what we can do for others. We need people who understand us , who relate to us and who can connect to u

O Lord! my prayer is to help me in my new assignment here as I try to grow your church, help me to connect with people. Lord I want, I want to go far beyond the "Hi! how are you?" but like David of Old, about his friendship with Jonathan.They made vow to be friends, and David kept his vows even after Jonathan died. When Jonathan died,David said, "How I weep for you, my brother Jonathan! Oh how much I loved you! And your love for me was deep, deeper than the love of woman!" They had a friendship that was tested,but they drew together in difficult times and remained friends to the very end.

Lord my prayers is that you open doors for us so that we are able to meet peoples and connect them for your kingdom.

Experincing God anew.

It was a weekend of explosion. Been struggling with sleepless night after night. Trying to blog but each time after writing i end up deleting it as what was said did not strike my heart cord. Have you ever go through this dry desert spell, it was tough. Faith rise up for me this Saturday when indeed He brought someone and a incident to happen to challenge my faith and put it to work.
At the end of it all i realise the impact of Paul statement when he said "I know whom I have believed" because it is not enough if we believe, unless we have a testimony of God. Faith never leans on the authority of mortals, nor rests on God in such a manner as to hesitate, but must be joined with knowledge, otherwise it would not be sufficiently strong against the innumerable assaults of Satan.
Amidst every storm and tempest, I know I can enjoy undisturbed repose if I have settled conviction that God,who cannot lie or deceive, has spoken and will undoubtedly perform what He has promise. I have learned and experience this break though for His church which he entrusted me to shepherd this Saturday. Praise God. I saw His power and how He touched and built my faith to the next level when He shows that, even in desperate affairs, I can and ought to give God such glory so as not to doubt that He will be true and faithful to His children. Indeed "Lord,I know that nothing will happen today that YOU and I together can't handle." For in this world where fear and timidity might be expected, laughter and love, joy and peace still fill the air.

Serious Business

Another Sunday has just drifted by never, never to returned. Another sermon has been delivered and what is the impact....just a wave of faces with no hints or emotion what so ever. Many Christians would leave the Sunday worship, lock the church door behind them and think that God will stay inside and await their return. Yes we go on with our business as usual until next Sunday. But it is just that.........!I thank God
that He is not locked behind church doors but interested in even the small details of our life.
"The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them,the sins of others trail behind them" 1 Timothy 5:25.

I believe Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live forever for those who believes and trust Him through faith. Now there are good things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only to seventy years, but which I better bother about seriously if I am going to live forever.

Perhaps my bad temper or my jealously are actually getting worse, so gradually that the increase over these years is not noticeable. But it might be absolute hell in a million years. In fact, hell is precisely the correct technical term for what it would be. Let us be sure that there is something inside us which unless altered, will put it out of God's power to prevent us being eternally miserable. While that something remains,there can be no heaven for us, just as there can be no sweet smell for a man with a cold, and no music for a man who is deaf. It is merely a question of God sending us to hell. In each of us there is something growing up which of itself be hell unless it is nipped in the bud.

The matter is serious. Let us put ourselves in His hands at once. Eternity is serious business. Misery awaits those without Christ. With Christ, heaven and hope lie just beyond, Which eternity awaits you?

Apprehension

Again here I am sitting in front of my good buddy talking and letting it go. I read a blog registered by a student which I am trying to reach out to said he felt apprehension each time I try to connect and care for him. A student away from home, have invited him home for meals, took him yamcha and run errands for him because he does not have wheels. I was trying to comprehend him..Why does he feels this way........ Apprehension,it is strange, it is a notch above worry, but feels like a twin. It isn't strong enough to be fear, but neither is it mind enough to be funny. It is in the category of a "mind emotion". In some ways, apprehension leaves you crippled,immobile. It is an undefined uneasiness, a feeling of uncertainty, misgiving and unrest. What frustration is yesterday, apprehension is to tomorrow.
Paul had it when he set his face toward the heavy horizon over Jerusalem. His admission is found in Acts 20:22 "And now,behold, bounded in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there."
A lot of emotion was packed in these words. How did he feel? Why was he uneasy? A lot of time we goes through this motion like my new friend. How do we react to this, how do I answer my new friend? Hey it is no sin,nor is it reason for embarrassment. It is, rather proof positive that you are human, should you be distrubed.
You see unfortunately,it tend to smother your pleasant dreams and good night sleep by placing a pillow over your faith. Apprehension will strap a short leash on your vision and teach you to roll over and play dead when scary statistics and pessimistic reports snaps their fingers. Paul refused to run when it took place.Openly he acknowledge its presence and stood his ground " But I do not consider my life if any account as dear to myself,in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus (Acts 20:24)
Yes I am rising above this because I have a ministry here just to reach out and touch as many lives as possible.

Who am I?

Some how sleep seem to elude me last nite again, what is bugging me? Must get to the issue. So I decided to get up and go to my desk and read, might as well s I need to prepare my sermon for the coming weeks. As I carry on this verse just jump out to me "He must increase but I must decrease" John 3:30, what is He telling me? Struggling with it, sat an pray through and at last He reveals.

When the crowds left John the Baptist to follow Jesus, he said: "This is the assigned moment for Him to move into the centre, while I slip off to the sideline." (John 3:30. John thought like a steward. A steward simply manages something for the owner until he comes to take it back. John knew that he crowd leaving him for Christ was never his to begin with. God simply placed them under his care for a period of time to accomplish certain purposes. How I was encouraged as not only did God visited me personally He spoke to me privately. I was weary after coming down to Malaka to repioneer the church here. Was left with four to serve and work with. It is still not growing, where did I go wrong and now I am hit with the news that one has decided to move onto Kl to work since his girlfriend is there. God is telling me to let go and trust Him,it is His church,I have to learn to let Him built it His way, my job is to be obedient and just keep on sharing the good news and let my life be one that can be a salt to others. Thank you my Lord for visiting me when I needed You most. If out there, that is one going through the same situation like me be encourage we are only His steward not the owner. God bless.

Change your image

As I search my soul I just wonder that one of the hardest thing I ever had to do was face with the fact that the inner image of myself physically determine my outward self. I finally had to admit that as long as my inner image of myself was, my outer self was going to match it. Then I remember what the Bible say."it is faith that changes things, and without the inner image of hope, faith cannot work. So I decided to search the Bible for every scripture to encourage me, that not too hard to do but the hard part was meditating on the scripture and pray through it. What was I doing?. I was laying hold on a different inner image. Yes I have change, I did it. Go into the Word of God and begin to change the images inside you. Change them from images of despair to image of hope. Get a blueprint in your heart and your faith will build on it. God bless you.

longsuffering

Indeed it will take a lot from me to be able to live up to this identity. You may be wondering as to the reason why I choose this identity. Last 3 months I was asked to relocate to Melaka to repioneer a church. It has not been smooth, a new place without any friend. Loneliness sets in, discouragement mounts and suddenly the world seems to crumble onto you. It is time that I learn to suffer long and it has been successful to date. It is also an easy way out for me to talk to myself thru the blog as my wife and those close to me have heard my moaning so many times. Just laugh along with me if you can identify with me.