October

One day, a man was at the barber, having a haircut. The barber then started a conversation with him and the barber said to the man, "Do you know that i do not believe that God exists?" The man replied "why?"

The barber said, "Well, if there is a God, why is there so much sufferings in the world? So many troubles. The world is a big mess. So, when i see all these, i don't believe that God exists."
The man thought he better not argue with the barber as after all, he is holding the blade. So he just kept quiet and let the barber continue talking.

After the haircut, the man thanked the barber and he walked out of the door. Just as he stepped outside, he saw another man, who was unshaven, with long messy and dirty hair.
The man quickly pulled the other man into the barber shop and he said to the barber,
"Hey, do you know that i also do not believe that barbers exist?"
The barber replied, "What do you mean? I just gave you a haircut, made you clean and neat"
However, the man said, "No no, there is really no such thing as barbers in this world at all! If there were really barbers, there will be no such person as this man here in the streets! There will be no one with long dirty hair and unshaven at all."
The barber replied,"That is because he did not come to me. If he would have come to me and looked for me, i would have cleaned him up and given him a haircut and made him look really good"
The man said, " Yes, it is the same with God also. If only we would humble ourselves and come to Him, to seek Him and ask for help, the world will not have been such a mess today."

Amen

June 2010

Its already June and the year is half way thru. As i look back at the posts i made, it is scary how time flies. Its been an eventful first half of the year for me. haha! I have so much to say, so much to tell that i cannot pen it down anymore.

I recall a scene from American Beauty, something i watched years ago. A harmless plastic bag being tossed and blown about in the wind. The scene is said to be so beautiful that one will find it hard to breathe, choked with so much emotion.

I thought that was strange but it took me a while to understand what it means. I think i posted this before somewhere but not sure where it is. Life is indeed ugly at times but so beautiful! Amazingly beautiful that u are so filled with the beauty that it chokes you u struggle to breathe.

I think i am weary. Spiritually and also mentally. Tired. haha! I also dunno.

Anyway, i do know that God is good and He loves me.

He is my everything, He is my all.
He is my everything, both great and small
He gave His life for me, made everything new
He is my everything, now how about you.

Praise the Lord.

Amen.

Main point: Being sure

Today's Scripture Union has a strong and encouraging message for everyone, both Christians and non Christians and i wanted to share with everyone.

1 John 5:13-21
Concluding Affirmations
 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
    16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
    18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
    21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.


Main point: Being sure
Consider what difference it makes to your daily life to know that you have eternal life. So many of our anxieties relate to fears about the future. John repeatedly assures the early Christians that their future is entirely secure with Christ. Ours is too!

Secure in Christ
What does this security look like in your life? Does it give you confidence in prayer (vs 14,15)? Does it help you to be friendly and caring towards other Christians, including watching out for their spiritual well being (vs 16,17; see Galatians 6:1–3)?

Does it lead you to practise in your behaviour now all that will prepare you for heaven, where there will be no sin (vs 18,19)? Does it inspire you to grow in your knowledge and understanding of this wonderful Saviour, Jesus Christ (v 20)?

Sin that leads to death?
No one is entirely sure what the ‘sin that leads to death’ is (v 16), but it probably refers to those who were once in the church and have now left and are teaching against the truth of Christ (see 2:22). What there is agreement on is that if you are worried that you’ve committed it, then you certainly haven’t!

Being sure of God
We can expend a lot of energy on worrying about our doubts, being anxious about the future and feeling very insecure. John would urge us to be absolutely sure of God, to believe what he says about his Son Jesus, to live a life of love and reflect the light and purity of God’s character in how we behave.

Praise The Lord!

Amen.

January 2010

We are at 2010 at last. Where did all the years go? lol! Yes, its a new year and again for me, a new chapter in my work. Looking back, i would say that i have learnt alot about the working world, about life and about myself. In the last 1.5 years, i think i have learnt alot and the experience is both enriching and invaluable. I felt i have learnt more in my 1.5 yrs here than the last 9 years of working in my previous companies.

In a sense, it gave me a new insight into myself that i did not know or realise. I suddenly feel my age.

However, as a Christian, i am often felt i am not growing alot. I have always things that i am still carrying them and not leaving it to the Lord. The weight of it can sometimes be heavy but still, i do know i sometimes still insist on carrying them. lol! The world news makes it no lighter as it is often depressing. Problems, people falling from grace, the lies uncovered and others dun exactly paint a nice picture of what the world is today.

But still, we give thanks to the Lord because He promises that He will always be with us forever. He knows our every strength and weakness. He knows our flaws and i know it is no use covering or giving excuses for things because the Lord knows. When u come before Him and confessing and just tell it as it is, the weight often is lifted.

Jesus says love your enemies and pray for them. I tried but i decided to tell the Lord that i dun really feel like praying for them. haha! Yes, its not Christian-like but yes, that is what i feel and i confess it to God. I said i cannot love this enemy because i just cannot. Strange as it sounds but instead of saying a prayer for them and asking the Lord to bless them but secretly grudgingly doing so, when i confess it to the Lord, i actually experience the peace and i know that i can now really pray for them and ask the Lord to help them and myself to change.

His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Its like love i guess. U are at your weakest when someone else has the power to make u happy or sad and when u no longer have control over that. However, it is also at this time that u are at your strongest because of the fact that u are in love.

Things naturally become valuable when they are limited. Paintings by famous painters fetch alot when there are no more new paintings available. Life itself is valuable because of death. Strange irony. We treasure life because we know that we dun have eternity to enjoy it. Everyone of us has the same fate, no matter who u are.

Life is not about climbing the coporate ladder, nor is it about relaxing and taking things easy. Life is about being happy and sharing that joy that Jesus came to give us. There is eternal life beyond this life and that is the prize that Jesus is saying and we are encouraged to run the race and fix our eyes on the prize.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteouness and all these things will be added unto you.

If the sparrows who neither reap or sow but our Heavenly Father feeds them, how much more precious are we?

For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

We have an all powerful, merciful and loving God. Give thanks to God for His great love, mercy and grace.

And everyone who calls on Jesus, they will be saved!

Praise the Lord!

Amen!

November 09

I used to think 2010 was some far away year and by then, we did be so advanced we could be travelling by air as a means of normal public transport. lol!

Well, i think in a way, technology has made us "fly" thur the internet. We are zooming from MSN to FB to Twitter and whatever new stuff that is on the pipeline.

At times, i wish i could just cry out for time to just slow down a little. Maybe i shd be telling myself to slow down a little. Time flies and at broadband speed at that as well.

I worry more these days. Much more and often i cannot help it. Of course Jesus says do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has its own worries. Well, its hard not to worry sometimes. I realise one of my biggest worry is letting people down. I think i will freeze at the thought that someone felt i had let them down. Carrying someone else's weight of expectations on your shoulders is not easy and unwise as well. And yet, to know i had fallen short of one's expectations really depresses me. I felt a sense of uselessness and guilt. I did kick myself over it and to be honest, i hate it when someone makes me feel like this. I think for both work as well as relationships, i take it harder i guess than most people.

Of course, there is the rationale of why let other people's views affect u? It is their perspective and their self imposed weight of expectations anyway. I never promised anything. This reminded me of how i felt when i am watching Liverpool. I always wanted the best for them, to win every game and i always rooted for them! However, when they lost games they shd have won, i hated them for making me feel disappointed. But then again, its all me. I wanted the win! I wanted them to be Champions. I wanted them to beat the heck of out Manchester United. haha!

Anyway, i remembered i cried when Liverpool lost 0-2 to Arsenal to lose the league title on the last day of the season. I think i was only nine years old then. I could not sleep the whole night and i finally fell asleep out of exhausion. Yeah, i was that kind of a fan (or fanatic)

Anyway, work has not been ideal. Has not been for a while but who really has the perfect job? lol!

But i do believe i have my priorities right. I thank God for His love, mercy and grace. I know at times i read the Bible or Daily Bread but my mind actually wonders and i am reading the words but i am not getting the intended message.

Christmas is just next month and what a wonderful day it is, where our Lord Jesus was born. God has sent Him to redeem us from sin and to give us eternal life.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things on earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His Glory and Grace.

Yes, my friends, when we turn our eyes to Jesus, the glory of our Lord dims everything else. Work problems, quarrels, anger, jealousy and hatred suddenly seems strangely trival when we turn our eyes to our Lord.

Praise God!

Amen

May 09

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Many people still dun know God. Some are still searching but many really cannot care less. Some are not sure.

Its not surprising that many people do not know God. Many in the first place dun see the need to find Him. "What for?", they ask or "So what?"

The world is a fallen place. Its true. All of us are born with capability to do evil. Its our tendency to do evil rather than do good. Even when we are kids, we dun like to share the things. We want it all to ourselves. We are born of the world so we behave and act like the world. That is why we call it "worldly and spirtual views". Worldly views refer to things of the world while spirtual views refers to the views that are from God. So, as we are born of the world, we inheirt the worldly views. That is why the Bible tells us that everyone is borned a sinner because we are from the world. And the wages of sin is death.

But God created us in His image and He loves us because we are His creation. But because Adam and Eve has sinned from the beginning, we are all borned sinners. But God wants us to have eternal life. His plan was for us to live with Him. But Adam and Eve were tricked and ate from the tree of knowledge. Thus God drove them out of the Garden of Eden before they could eat the fruit from the tree of life and live forever.

But God sent Jesus 2000 years ago to redeem us from our sins. Before Jesus was borned, people sacrifice sheeps, rams and lambs as an atonement for their sin. The sacrifice of the lamb was for the sins of man and the priest normally does that so that God can forgive the people for their sins. However, Jesus came to be the lamb and He would be crucified so that the sins of all mankind will be taken away. Because Jesus paid the price for our sins, we do not have to pay the price for our sins. It has already been paid by the blood of Jesus, who died for our sins so that we will not need to die for our sins. God then said that since our sins have been washed away, all we have to do is to believe why Jesus came and we will have eternal life, which was what God had planned for us in the beginning.

So, why John 3:16 is so important because people who believe who Jesus says He is will be saved. Its that simple. Forgiveness has already been given to us. We do not have to earn it. Some religions emphasise that we have to do good and be a good person to attain eternal life. While this is good because people will receive the love and care, it differs from Christianity. We do good and become good because we already have received the eternal life. We are given eternal life because God loves us. Not because we are righteous or because we do good. We have eternal life because of the grace of God. Thus, no one can earn it. By being a vegeterian will not earn u eternal life. Neither will meditating and doing all the good things in the world earn u eternal life.

So, every religion in the world that teaches good looks the same on the surface. It has the same principles which is to love people, do good, be a nice person but yet there is a very very small yet very important difference. That difference is John 3:16. We have to acknowledge God sent his Son to die for our sins. Not believing in that means u reject the truth that God has saved u thru the blood of Jesus. So, if u reject that or dun believe in that, then u give up the gift that God wants to give you.

So, that is why Christians are very worried that people miss this small but yet vital information. No other religion talks about this. Only the Bible. No other religion says their God created the trees, birds, sky or people. Only the Bible. The enemy cannot deny this. So, what the enemy does is to omit or twist it. As long as no one in the world believes in Jesus, they can do all the good but they will never have eternal life. That is the objective of the enemy. The enemy hates us very much.

So as Christians, we struggle because we are both worldly but yet we know that spirtual view. Its a conflict that we face everyday. God tells us to love everyone, even your enemies but the world teaches us to eliminate all our enemies. God says we have to love our enemies but most of us would say "Kaoz, already dun like them, still must love them. I dun think so".

But Jesus tells us that even the evil people love their own kind. They will take care of their own evil people. So, if as Christians, we only love those we think are good and deserve to be love, then there is no difference from the evil people as well.

Many people will ask questions like "Can God make me rich? Will He give me happiness forever? Can He give me whatever i want in life? Can He make me successful?" Most of us today will only take an interest if God is able to do all that for them. If God cannot, then people turn away from him. They feel they got better things to do in life.

How many times have u read reports of people winning 4D because they went to pray to a tree or something. The next day, hundreds of people flock to that tree to offer prayers and offerings and asking for winning numbers. The reason is they believe that wealth is the answer to life. While everyone agrees it is good to be rich, it is supposed to be a result of God blessings on your life, rather than making it the objective of your life.

So, u will have to decide for yourself what is the meaning of life. I cannot decide or make u believe in anything that u are not willing or keen to believe in. hee hee! So, continue to keep searching.

Ask and it shall be given unto you.
Seek and you shall find.
Knock and the door will be open unto you.

Praise God!

Amen.

April 09

Time flies. It's already close to the middle of the year. Give thanks to the Lord for all He has given to us. I am disappointed over an incident and despite that, i know God loves me and all of us very much. We do not quite see it all the time but like children, they too do not see their parent's love for them all the time. But the truth is that their parents love them so much all the time!

I was looking forward to something for some time and i was totally exited about it but it never materialised, despite initial promise. That really gutted me and i was quite depressed over it. I felt a feeling of anger, injustice and disappointment and it was something that i could not quite say it in words. There were so many implications that it made me quite bitter. Yet, i know that bitterness is not one of the fruits of the spirit but still, i must admit it got me quite down.

It took me a long time to be able to write this and even now, i also cannot put it in words what i really felt. Maybe there is an area in my life that God wants me to reflect on or maybe its just His way. Maybe it did not materialise for me because someone else needed it more? I dunno. But all i do know is God loves us and we have to trust and obey. I think maybe i have not been humble enough. I felt i should have the opportunity, that i have the right to have this opportunity and that i deserve to have the opportunity. Perhaps its time to relook into my priorities.

I read books about the meaning of life, listen to people talk about the meaning of life. Sometimes, i felt they do not quite get it. But that is what i feel.

The meaning of life is to praise and glorify God through our lives. Everything we do, say or behave is supposed to reflect the glory of God. Of course, i fall short most of the time and of course i also behave or react in a way that is not correct. But that does not mean we continue to do that. I believe repentance is always necessary and yes, God always forgives when one is truly repentant. God always forgives, all the time.

Some people reject this idea and refuse to believe this is true because they think its too good to be true and that we have such a loving and forgiving Heavenly Father. But the fact is that we do!

In fact, all we have to do is to look at the relationship between parents and their children. Do not parents forgive their children when they make a mistake and later confess and repent? What joy fills the heart of parents when their children repent of their wrong ways. Do parents keep that wrongdoing in their hearts? Do they remember it so that they can always bring it up one day again? I do not think so. I believe that when parents forgive their children's mistakes, the mistake is wiped clean! It can be wiped clean because of the love the parents have for their children. Parents forgive their children because they love them, not because they had to pay back or do many good deeds to earn that forgiveness. This kind of forgiveness cannot be earned but yet it is given freely and abundantly.

So that is how the relationship is between God and us. Not that we deserve forgiveness or mercy. Not that we earned the right to be forgiven. But we are forgiven and given eternal life because God loves us so much. We cannot earn forgiveness nor do many good deeds to deserve forgiveness. Its by the grace of God that we are forgiven of our sins and given eternal life.

Thank you Heavenly Father for loving us so much!

Praise God!

Amen.