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.