My Heart , Your Home

Was bathing ytd evening, back from church service.

been a long weekend, served in Gkids and choir duty. been a long time since i have been really tired. long week.

So was surprised that the Lord spoke to me clearly about life @ work.

this year has been pretty quiet at my workplace unlike the first year. quiet in terms of relationship with neighbours, at my 3 previous workplace, i have pretty chatty and kind neighbours, so always have a easier day to go through. but in my current workplace, the atmosphere is lesser. and it doesn't help that my neighbours kept changing, i lost count of how many came and go..(somehow, having the same location doesn't mean the similar sales, tok about God's hand on the biz. we are blessed).. so point of story i talked lesser. and it can get quite bored for periods. even more bored when your neighbours don't open for the day..

think King David.

he was a shepherd boy, he takes care of sheeps.. think 'meh-meh' sheep, not 'blah-blah' human.

God knows how many years , months, weeks, days, moments, he spent out alone in the wilderness with the sheep along. granted there might be shepherd or traders that he passed by once in a while, the marketplace that he goes to, to sell sheep wools.. other than that, he is pretty much alone. lonely.

that's the point. and no, he is not the lonely after all..

the bible, the pslams show us that he communicates a lot with God during this time. oh yes, of cos, he can't joke much with the sheeps rite?

God is probably putting through me the same periods of life as David too. He probably is 'training' me to seek after him during this quiet periods too. i can't talk to my merchandise right? haha.

oh yes, i really have to admit that my walk with God has been much closer this couple of years becos of the many conversations during my quiet moments on job...

so i just want to thank God that he spoke to me for perspective sake ba during bathing time ytd.. Praise God!

was leading the children in this song My Heart, Your Home: tot its a really good prayer for to pray about too .

Come and make my heart Your home
Come and be everything I am and all I know
Search me through and through
‘Til my heart becomes a home for You (Repeat)

Chorus
A home for You Lord
A home for You Lord
Let everything I do
Open up a door for You to come through
And that my heart would be
A place where You want to be

May you be bless. : )

Praise God

Praise God indeed.

Last month, my cell leader led us brothers to prayer walk the school that we served in. We prayed using the Lord's prayer as a guide as we walk the perimeter of the school. it was my first real prayer walk with fellow brothers, so its cool and its exciting.

someone suggested that we should walk it seven times, and one the seventh time , we should encircled it seven times. and well, the prayer is that whatever stronghold of our enemies will fall under the power of God. (think Joshua and Jericho : ))

Anyway, before that comes to pass, God is already working. at least on evidence of what i have been witnessing over the pass week.

Last sunday, praise God indeed that i led one of the boys to re-dedicate his life to the Lord . it's has been sometime since i led someone thru the sinner's prayer , so it's really an encouragement from the Lord to keep going again.

"strangely enough', before meeting the boy, the Lord asked me to prepare to share the gospel 101, so i did 'rehearse' thru, so by the time i met the boy, i was kinda surprised as the conversation deepens, that he actually attended church sometime last year, but stopped going. mum encouraged him to come, he wants to come, and its a matter of helping him to really understand who Jesus is and why he comes. once he knows it, its simply a simple invitation for the Lord to come into his life , for real this time.

it's really ABC.

it's joy unspeakable. : )

Praise God.

somewhere along the line, things clicked and come into pieces. knowledges and revelations come in the timing of the Lord. i know this boy so long, but its till last sunday that i find out so much about him.. Praise God indeed. i pray that he will grow strong, firm and healthily in the Lord and to know Him and to hunger for Him all the days of his life.

--
guess what, a few days after this, i actually have another opportunity to share the gospel freely with another boy. met him up due to some personal issues that i tot its good to guide him along, and i took the chance to share.

once again, its sharing without hindrance, and really feel like Paul in ACTS 28:31 " Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ."

Awesome.

though he finds it hard to believe about Jesus, well what's impossible with the Lord right? nothing too hard. my job is to share and pray, the rest God will settle.

Amen and Hallelujah!

I am loving it! : ) it = this kind of lifestyle!

Serving as a lifestyle

i finally got it. Praise God.

After much struggling of wanting to go back to social services to work full-time, i finally understand that's not God's will, at least for a good time. God is working on it being a life style of mine instead of it being a full-time job for myself.

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Last week's sermon by Pastor Patrick is long-due. there's this part that i agreed alot on :

"what's a life style of a Christian like?"

it's obvious that, most likely we will follow that life-style of our cell leader, which is a familiar story for most Christians:

1) Go church service on sunday
2) attend cell meeting on a weekday night, sometimes pontan(skip)
3) and occasionally attend sunday school classes.

and most likely when we lead someone to Christ, that fren of ours, will most likely have the following lifestyle too:

1) Go service on sunday
2) attend cell meeting on a weekday night, sometimes pontan(skip)
3) occasionally attend sunday school classes.

and on it goes from generation to generation of attendind meetings after meetings. doesn't sound too promising .

Personally, i kinda don't like this kind of attending meetings lifestyle, if its just for the sake of attending. i don't like to attend becos its the norm, its the way it is. after a while, it can get meaningless especially when one become too full and bloated.

there should be more to the Christian life right? i mean, we know God, we have God in our life. i mean, we should be doing more than just attending meetings.

More than that, personally i thinking leading a cell, discipling people, which is fantastic by itself, is still not adequate. becos end of the day, its still attending meetings.

i think the key is to serve others outside our meetings. regularly.

and that's where i realise that serving the poor and needy should be a lifestyle and not a job.

you see i am gifted by God to serve the poor and needy. but if i am paid to do the job then its not a lifestyle but an obligation for me. and its hard to see the heart and motivation.. etc behind it. but if i am doing it as a life style. then its a different ball game.

Pastor suggested this:

" hey, this tuesday free or not? want to go visit this old lady at hougang or not?"

" huh? you mean Christian do that meh?"

" ya, we do, let's go man?

compared this to

" hey , what you doing this friday?

" oh i got cell group?

" This sat?

"oh i got church conference.

this sunday?

" i going service..

"orh.. "


---

this is so cool, thank God for the much-needed message from Pastor.

it's about our lifestyle.

at home, at work, at church, and in the community.

May God be glorified thru our lifestyle ba.

Amen and Hallelujah!

Fool things i have done

i have done quite a lot of foolish things in life and i actually tot i am a smart guy . haha

Ps Ed Silvoso said that marriage is a revealer of problems in life, and i figured that's the truth of being in a relationship too.

i learn more about myself over the last 3 months more than(in proportion) anytime of my life. and i truly thank God that He has used my girlfriend to show my foolishness, and when i do reflect on it, i can really smile at it.

A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. - Proverbs 14:15

my simplicity approach to life means that i don't give too much tots to things that i do. and thats ok if i am alone, but not so if there are ppl involved. i live in a community, so i need to start giving more tots on my actions in everything.

The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice - Proverbs 12:15
and yes, i need to seek counsel and opinions also. : )

A fool's mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul. - Proverbs 18:7
i always know that my lips can be a bit too quick and foolish, so its hightime that i start praying and acting upon it. : D

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10

The Lord is the source of my wisdom, my best bet is to hang around Him all the time. Praise God that i have access to Him all the time and anywhere. imagine, God says you must go temple then can find him, and temple opening hours is from 8am to 6pm only.... Alamak! siao liao...

so cannot take from granted ok.. our God is good.

The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor. Proverbs 15:33
i also realise, when critizism comes my way, i always want to retaliate, hey i am ok wah, i think i m right, i think its you.. blah blah..

well if i m right, why would anyone be upset with me. so the Lord has me teaching me, to re-act is not from him but from the evil one. The Lord teaches self-control not out-bursting, so His ways is always humilty, and He gives grace to the humble ya. read James 4:6 : )

"the opinions of our enemies," said La Rochefoucauld, "come nearer to the truth about us than do our own opinions."

how true! We must thank God that ppl bother to critisize us, of cos we must identify how much of it are truths and how much are lies.

End of day, we must be humble enough to realise that we are not as smart as we think we are. Even Albert Einstein, the most profound thinker of the last century, confessed that his conclusions were wrong 99% of the time!

Elbert Hubbard said: "Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes everyday. Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit. "

Dale Carnegie suggest the following to keep us from worrying about other's criticism : "

"Let's keep a record of the fool things we have done and criticize ourselves. Since we can't hope to be perfect, let's do what E.H. Little did: let's ask for unbiased, helpful, constructive criticism."

in others words, let's find out where we can improve on with postivie feedbacks from others. For me, the best person to ask is always God, since He created me and is the only one who can love me unconditionally. though sometimes He will used your love ones to tell u too.

Grace be with you. Amen

where have the seed been sown on?

"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

- Matthew 13:18-23

Personally i think verse 22 applies to me more in this stage, somehow one way or the other, the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth has slowly creep up into my life, and choke me, and thus making me not so fruitful.

therefore. since now i know it, therefore,

i pray that God will un-choke me of the worries and deceitfulness of this worldly world. somethings are good. but well, God is not just good, His tots are excellent, His deeds are excellent.

Rather than just thinking good tots, we should think His excellent tots!

I pray that i will be that man in verse 23 who hears and understands God's word and be very very very fruitful all the days of my life. In Jesus Name, Amen!

3 years and counting Part 1

It's children day , yippie!

It's also been 3 years that since i come to know the Lord. and i just feel like boasting that i actually know God. haha.

"This is what the LORD says:

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom

or the strong man boast of his strength

or the rich man boast of his riches,
v 24 but let him who boasts boast about this:

that he understands and knows me,

that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,

justice and righteousness on earth,

for in these I delight,"

declares the LORD. " -- Jeremiah 9 23-24

Our God is a kind God

Rember that story in Mark 10:13-16, when Jesus' disciples rebuked little children who came and wants to touch Jesus? Remember Jesus' response? He said to them, " Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these...... " And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and bless them.

In his book, Christ in You, author Dr Les Carter suggests the possibility that Jesus couldn't have just bless them briefly and end of story. It is more likely that Jesus has decided to hang around with the little children, playing with them, carrying them around his arms all the way till sunset maybe, i.e spending quality time with them.

It's possible becuase God is a kind and loving God who unlike us man, sometimes do feel irritated by those little ones who climbed over our heads when we are doing 'something important', just like what the disciples might have felt.

it's possible because, otherwise the author Mark, wouldn't have wrote down this espisode in the Gospels. Jesus must have spent enough quality time playing with th children, teaching them, so much so that Mark is compelled in his memory to write this down many many years later after Jesus left for heaven.

Can you imagine Jesus playing with children? the kind words and touch that he exercised. the sincerity of a big Nice Uncle hugging you and imparting some wise words?

i am sure out of this kindness encounter with the Lord, this bunch of children and parents would have been part of the great evangelistic team of the Early Church.

point in mind : Our God is a kind God who will not hesitate to spend time with you, so long you go to him. DRAW nearer to him and , he will draw nearer to you. it's a given.

And His kindness, compells me to want to be kind too, to others. : )

Somebody shout "Hallelujah!" : )