FireAC/Ministry of Fire

Love

2011-04-25T20:33:00.005+08:00

Hi guys! :)

To start the week off, I'd just like to share with all of you a passage that really spoke to me during my quiet time today :)

Ephesians 3: 17-19

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all of God's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled with the measure of all fullness of God"

I was sitting on the swing in my garden reading my bible in the evening and when I read this verse and the paradoxical phrase of knowing God's love which surpasses all knowledge, there was a sudden rush of air around me and the cool breeze swept across my face in a gentle, reassuring way which reminded me wonderfully of the miracle of God's love :)

We are so vastly, immensely, irrefutably loved by God our Father :) His love for us knows no limits, no boundaries and cannot be tainted by anything in this world- be it sin, doubt, bondage, pain or fear. So many times we hear how amazing God's love is for us, it enters our brains, we process and understand the informatoin and go "Ok that's great! I know that now!"

But the concept that Paul presents to us here in Ephesians is something more abstract, profound. The concept that Paul presents to us is that this love the Father has for us, can only be fully understood by us by the experential aspect of our spiritual lives. We cannot completely understand this love by dissection or analysis of bible verses, nor can we claim to know this love fully just because we possess knowledge of the details of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for us. We can only truly know what the love of God encapsulates, when we experience this love for ourselves, in a tangible way that goes beyond the understanding, logic and rationale of our human minds, and dives right into our hearts, to touch us in a way that we cannot explain or condense coherently into words. The love of God is transcendental, and it is impossible to be captured in a sentence or even distilled into an EE essay. It exceeds our comprehension, our reasoning, our thoughts, our understanding and the only way to fully embrace this love is to open our hearts to God and ask with earnestness that He bless us by sprinkling dew drops of this great love on us more and more each day, that we may experience it to understand it more and more and more and MORE! :)

Let's make it the earnest prayer of our heart, to cry out to the Father everyday that He may give us a little experience of His love, be it through people or situaitons around us, that we may begin to know this love that surpasses all knowledge. And when we finally begin to know this love more, in ways than surpass knowledge, that is when our lives truly begin to be saturated with fullness; purpose.

This wonderful, heart-warming verse will rest in my heart for the rest of the week, and hopefully for the rest of my life. I hope that it will in yours too :)

In His love,
Soph :)

Good Friday & Easter(:

2011-04-22T19:55:00.004+08:00

Hi everyone!

Hope you're having a meaningful Good Friday and Easter(:

I'm not sure how you feel about Good Friday and Easter. In the recent years, I've felt some sort of indifference towards these days. Like not feeling so thankful for what He did on the cross for us. I knew I was taking His sacrifice for granted, but I didn't know what to do about it. Maybe some of you have felt this way too.

But yesterday, my brother brought up this interesting point. Remember Barrabas?

Now it was the governor’s custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

- Matthew 27:15-17

And the people asked for Barabbas. Barabbas was involved in a rebellion against the Romans, and he was a murderer too. Instead of being punished for his crimes, Barabbas was set free. Instead of Barabbas, Jesus was punished. And ironically, Jesus was crucified for what Barabbas was guilty of (being involved in a rebellion against the Romans).

So in many ways, we're like Barabbas. We didn't lead a rebellion, we didn't murder, but we're still sinners. And instead of bearing the punishment of our sins, Christ took our place. He took our place!

So let's not forget that we are set free because of His love that He showed on the cross. Let's remember that we don't deserve this grace. We've been set free from darkness, and let's live a life worthy for Him in gratitude(:

See you on tuesday!

- ding

Woot! Blogpost! again.

2011-04-13T22:47:00.002+08:00

Hello people!

Once again, the amazing blog of the fireac of the of the. Okay i lost my train of thought. Oh wells.

But hey people who read this blog, and are actually taking time to read it! heh. Okayzzz. Me turn to share this week.

Its been a crazy week for me, as a year 6, and in the middle of the week i decided, well, since im down and rostered to write i might as well write now.

EASTER IS COMING! ARE YOU EXCITED!!! :DDDDDD. Cause I am.

Funny how we all seem to trivalise these events. Like me. Oh easter, another holiday, another presbyterian convention, etc. etc. For crying out loud, Hop is in cinemas! The easter bunny on a big screen! Delivering eggs. (Don't get me wrong, the movie was quite cute).

HELLO! JESUS ROSE FROM THE GRAVE PEOPLE! THATS WHAT EASTER IS ABOUT!!!

Rose from the grave! Rose from the grave! Not from his bed leh, From the Grave! Why arent we on our knees giving thanks! Easter is the ultimate proof of God's power, and his sovereignty in our lives.

Ephesians 2: 1-10

Made Alive in Christ

¹ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Don't you see! Don't you realise! God has a MASTERPLAN! Because of Easter, we are alive in christ! Because, we were all dead once, in our sin, in our sinful nature, but now we live! Forever!!!!!!

Grace. Faith. Love. Such amazing words. But they simply represent what God has done for us, in our lives!

Grace - an unmerited favour

Faith - Belief in what we cannot see

Love - God.

Love, in his Grace, came down for us, and died to remove our sins, so that by faith all who believe shall not perish but have eternal life. AMEN.

And so how. Because of Easter, because we are safe, what do we do????? Sit back and relax?

NO! MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS NO! CANNOT!

Look at verse 10! We are created to do good works! (c.f. James: Faith without deeds is useless) Because of easter, we are saved, and hence, are called to do good works in our LORD Jesus Christ. To go out, to spread his love, and to preach to the masses.

Well, FireAC, how can we do this? Very easy.

REW is coming. We can encourage others, and we can pray for them.

Therefore, if you are convicted, i invite you to pray. Pray for the speaker, pray for the people serving in the REW itself and the followup. And more importantly, PRAY FOR A NON-CHRISTIAN FRIEND TO BE IMPACTED. We never know how God will move. But, we can always pray.

SO IN SUMMARY:

JESUS LOVES YOU. ME. AND EVERYONE. EVEN THE VILEST SINNER. SO LETS PRAY FOR THEM.

kthxbai.

God Bless

Jon Wong!

IT'S FRIDAY FRIDAY

2011-04-01T20:14:00.003+08:00

GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY
EVERYBODY'S LOOKING FORWARD TO THE WEEKEND, WEEKEND

okay hello anyone who reads this blog!

Yes, it's Friday, and (although I wasn't in school today to see all the crazy fun ><) I'm sure you all got down. Whatever that means.

The purpose of this post is just to discuss the weekend (which EVERYBODY'S LOOKING FORWARD TO), because YESTERDAY WAS THURSDAY THURSDAY and TOMORROW IS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY COMES AFTERWARD which means that TODAY IS FRIDAY FRIDAY but anyway. I'm convinced that there is something to learn in everything. To quote Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, "There are certain things which enter the minds of even people without one." Of course, he doesn't say whether these things are right or wrong.

To illustrate this, today's (and this week's) post will examine a song. A popular, popular song.

I'm sure everyone treats the weekend as a haven from school, or at least from schoolwork. For (the vast majority of) the BB people, Saturdays are something to look forward to; in some cases, the prospect of parade and its crazy fun are all that sustain us through the week. For other people, however, weekends are meant for introspection and for scholarly pursuits, like catching up on all the work one has accumulated over the week. Whatever the case, everyone looks forward to the weekend. The question I'll ask today is this:

why?

In the example of the incomparable weekend anthem Friday, the truly estimable singer goes "PARTYING PARTYING YEAH/PARTYING PARTYING YEAH/FUN FUN FUN FUN/LOOKING FORWARD TO THE WEEKEND". Why does the speaker "[look] forward" to the weekend? Simply because of the promise of "partying"; of social interaction and of merriment. Compare that to our sad, socially-dead IB lives, where the weekend exists for work (or is that just me?). In this regard, I would go so far as to admit that we should perhaps take a lesson from the incredible enthusiasm and high-spiritedness in the song -- were it not that the song is nothing if not trivial and contrived. If the bolding hasn't made it obvious, triviality and contrivance of enthusiasm are the two points I'll address in this post.

Firstly, our enthusiasm cannot be trivial, or for trivial things. It is no doubt that enthusiasm is ruled by a concupiscible desire (a yearning to gain), but whether this passion is directed towards the world or towards God is the true determinant of enthusiasm. Here is where Ionesco's wisdom comes into play. While it is certainly important to possess enthusiasm, and Ms Black has certainly demonstrated that quality remarkably, what she has is an excitement over such ephemeral things as parties. (See? Even those so completely incapable of intelligent thought may be correct about the fundamental facts of life.) However, she gets the specifics wrong. Simply put, the song shows a correct attitude in the anticipation of things to come, but focuses on the wrong things. Instead of yearning after the approval of, and stature among, men and the things of this world, we should set our sights on greater things; things the greatness of which we cannot comprehend. What use is partying for one weekend in the greater scheme of just this world? (the answer is: not very much.) If such frivolity -- fleeting in all its glitz and glamour -- is of no use even in this physical realm, and certainly far less so in Christian terms, are there not better things to yearn for?

Secondly, the song is so relentless in its pursuit that it sounds contrived and artificial. This is another area in which Friday gets things both right and wrong. Certainly, the singer's (or at least the speaker's -- it is important to differentiate the two, especially in English A1) dedication to partying must be commended, but whether it is right is another matter entirely. There is a lesson to learn here; that perseverance in pursuit of a goal is only truly, righteously correct when the object is the very opposite of trivial. This is linked quite clearly to the earlier point. When we yearn after Christ and our citizenship in His kingdom, then the effort we put into the pursuit is justified by His love. When we chase after the things of this world, well -- let's just say that everything in this world fades away, and nothing but God is worthy of our dedication.

Consider then Matthew 6:33, which reads "but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." While it might seem a bit daunting to run after Him with all our hearts -- to "pick up [our crosses] daily and follow [Him]" (Luke 9:23) -- we are given assurance that we are provided for simply because He watches over those who see His love and return it.

I'm sure you're all asking yourselves: what does this have to do with this week's theme of unity, or even with the weekend? I'm about to get to that.

Over the weekend, we're free of the social constraints which are an integral part of our identity as students. We can interact with other people not as students -- subconsciously seen as inferior, naive or immature -- but as equals. While it may be tempting to use the freedom from such pseudo-disdain to indulge in some PARTYING PARTYING, don't. At least, such thoughts should be far from the forefront of your mind. It's understandable to feel like a full member of society -- and hence somewhat more liberated -- when out of school, and of uniform, but the greater identity we should revert to on the weekend isn't one of a fully matured individual, but is one of an insignificant part of the body of Christ.

As a small cell in one of the tissues in one of the organs of one of the systems in the body of Christ, our thoughts should be focused on God, and not on this world. If we yearn after God, and those who are with us in God, as much as Rebecca Black yearns after partying, then our enthusiasm will be far contagious than hers.

Over this weekend, and indeed for the rest of your lives, I challenge you to live not for partying, not for work -- not even for yourself. My challenge to you is to live putting God at the forefront, and others close behind. When it comes to other Christians, remember that all your differences -- you might not even speak the same language -- are only things of this world, and that there is something greater that binds you like spiritual Superglue: the love that we all share in Christ. With non-Christians, have faith that the enthusiasm you show for God, and for the glory of His kingdom, will be far easier to relate to than Rebecca Black's enthusiasm for Fridays and the weekend.

Fridays (and weekends) will come and go, but God remains forever. It isn't hard to decide which we should show our utmost devotion to.

What say you?

-mong.

Coming to a realisation(:

2011-03-23T23:46:00.005+08:00

Hi everyone!

This week's the first week of term 2, and hope you all are excited for this new term! And I hope your week has been good so far!

Anyway, here's something:

When I was doing my qt earlier, I couldn't really focus because I kept thinking about a problem I was facing. It really burdened me and made me feel so weak, even literally, I think. So I began to pray, to lift it up to God, and that was when I realised how weak and needy i was, and how much I had to rely on God.

It struck me how much we need to cling onto God and to depend on Him. Even though the problem's not resolved, I'm thankful for this sense of peace. That even though there may be many uncertainties in life, we can be certain that we have a God who cares for us and hears our cries to Him(:

Looking back, perhaps God placed the problem in my life so that I would turn to Him and realise how much I needed to depend on Him. To come to that realisation, even if it meant going through the problem, it was worth it(: If things were always going smoothly, it would have been much harder to realise how much we need to rely on God.

So if you're going through anything right now, I hope you'll remember that we can lay all our burdens at His feet, and that when we rely on Him, His power is greatly seen in our weakness(: He may or may not solve your problems, but trust that He knows best!

So have a super splendid special superb second term everyone!

And see you tomorrow morning!

-ding!

hello there.

2011-03-01T01:16:00.003+08:00

Good -- uh -- morning, everyone.

As you probably can tell from Jonwong's post, FireAC is still very much alive. In case you haven't yet noticed, there are 5 leaders: Michael and Sophia from Year 5, and Jonwong, Ding and myself (Mark) from Year 6. If you have anything at all that you need to talk about, we're always there, and although we might not be the least busy people around, feel free to approach any of us if you have prayer requests, things to share, or even if you feel like a chat.

Honestly, I'm still quite amazed at how FireAC has grown since it re-opened. Going from 4 people to 7 or 8, then to 18 (yes, I counted) is truly incredible. It really is heartening to see so many people coming down and taking some time out to start the day with Him. Each one of us goes for FireAC for a different reason, and I'm thankful that you've decided to dedicate your mornings to God, and be part of this ministry -- for whatever reason God has given you.

2 Corinthians 4:1-2 reads: "Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." In that light, I urge you to not confine the Gospel to Tuesday to Friday mornings, or to Sundays (and Saturdays in the case of the BB people). We should not hide God's presence in us from the world. As tomorrow (rather, later today) we celebrate the ACS spirit, whatever that is, and our subsumation in it, I urge you to remember that, above all that, we have not just the ACS spirit but the Holy Spirit in us. If we can celebrate and be joyful in a sense of belonging to a school, how much more, then, shall we rejoice at our being found in Christ? (:

Just something to think about, yeah? Enjoy your Founder's Day, everyone!

-mong.

Eh, we're not dead. Sorry to Disappoint.

2011-02-28T21:50:00.006+08:00

OEEEEEEIIIIIII!

Peeps! Hello wowowowowowowowow. This account is like so old man. And i feel old.

OK if you haven't guessed who this is, its Jon Wong!! Yay!
Alright I'll give you the extreme condensed version of why we are aliveeeeeeee!

Right, Beginning of year, 4 people decided fireAC cannot die. They prayed, got a sorta vision, but no mission. So they went by faith and opened it up again. By faith, the first week was small. Then it grew, and grew, until I dunno how many people. I never did count. But at least 15 I guess.

So now, the 4, now becoming 5 with a hyper girl, are praying about this ministry once again. And we invite you to pray alongside with us.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

So thats what we're gonna do. We're gonna pray. And seek him.

Alright thats all from the Year 6 half mad boy / CF pres.
Rights! I'm off to add myself as a contributor! Hooray!

More posts coming from more sane people.

Jon Wong

Hello!

2010-10-30T16:45:00.002+08:00

To those who were involved in FireAC in some way or other:

After discussion and prayer, it has been decided that FireAC should be closed down.
Though there may not be anymore morning activity/scrambling up the stairs to get to assembly on time, let prayer and fellowship always remain.

A few things to pray for:

- The school's leadership and direction
- Year 4s sitting for O level examinations
- Year 6s sitting for IB examinations (help)
- Christian ministry

Lastly, a huge thank you to all who've blessed and been blessed by this ministry in some way or another : )

On behalf of the rest of the leaders (Mike Liana Ben Eunice Zac),
Rachelmiao

Stand firm, hold fast

2010-08-15T10:03:00.004+08:00

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Eph 6:10-13 ESV)

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

(Philippians 2:14-16 ESV)

Dear brothers & sisters, juniors, batchmates, seniors, others. I don't know where you are in your lives, but God does (Ps 139), and He will never leave nor forsake you (Josh 1:5). Lots of us can claim to know things, what with devotions and chapel and rew and cell groups and sermons. Let's now stand firm and hold fast to our hope, not casting it aside once a church-y activity breaks up for a meal or QT ends. Y6es especially, take heart. We have less than a hundred days here. Let's go forth not in worry or stress but in love for those we find around us, simply because that's what He has commanded.

Here is a song entitled Hold Fast, it's by Mercyme; enjoy (:

the law of the Lord

2010-06-17T18:04:00.002+08:00

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes

-Psalm 19:7-8

i don't know if anyone checks back here anymore but if so please feel free to post any verses that may have spoken to you recently or any thoughts :)

hearT

2010-05-15T23:19:00.004+08:00

hi (:
this is just a notice that hearT will be conducted next week!
here's a copy of the notice from Ryan (this year's ic)
strongly encourage you all to come down, simply because it's an opportunity to pray & hear Him speak. do also prayerfully invite people to come! see you all, and God bless.

--

HearT is next week! [:

Its from Monday 17 May - Friday 21 May at the ACS Chapel (CPA 1)

every morning starting at 6.45am till assembly.

For those who don't know what HearT is, its bascially a week of prayer,

where we gather in the morning to pray and seek God [:

This time HearT will be in line with the Global Day of Prayer (GDOP), which is on 23 May 2010.

Its very exciting, we'll be praying together with millions of Christians around the world during these 5 days leading to GDOP!

The heart of the matter is that God's called His people to come together to pray, so lets all come down and pray together.

"if My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

And there is great power, God's power, in united prayer.

We'll pray and see chains of deep struggles be broken, hurting hearts healed, and lives be transformed in Christ for God's glory!

Let us also each encourage and invite our friends and classmates to come along with us to pray during HearT, for

This is what the LORD Almightly says:
"Many people and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come,
and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say,
'Let us go at once to entreat the LORD and seek the LORD Almightly. I myself am going'.
And many peoples and powerful nations will come..."
Zechariah 8:20-21

Do tell your friends this week about HearT, and encourage/invite them to come with you to pray[:

A Simple Thought I Had

2010-05-11T21:59:00.001+08:00

Was that even if there seems to be too much stuff
And things seem to be impossible at times,
A simple question, as another once asked me:
“Have you prayed about it yet?”
Because nothing’s impossible for God.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” — Philippians 4:13

/JamesKoh

Love, Life and our Father in Heaven

2010-05-06T00:47:00.002+08:00

It's been a while since anyone posted stuff on this blog..

Anyway brother and sisters, stay strong and faithful in Christ for He is our rock and refuge.

Don't really have much to say, but a dear friend of mine introduced me to this song by Tenth Avenue North. Wonderful song I'll say :)

By Your Side Lyrics

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go

In His name

-Karlo

Stand Amazed

2010-03-22T21:14:00.003+08:00

I don’t really know how long forever is
But that’s how long I’m gonna give my life
Everything I face, it tries to tear me down
No I won’t back away from the sacrifice
I won’t forget what you’re love means to me
You’re always there to light my way

(Chorus)
When all the lights go down and the world is quiet
No one is around
I wanna be the same man that will serve you then
Like I serve you now
That my convictions never change
O let my need for you remain
As real as the moment I was saved
I will always stand amazed

Sometimes my heart desires such selfish things
When the moment comes help me to trust
Something better that you have for me
If I could just hold on to you enough
I won’t forget what you’re love means to me
You’re always there to light my way

Chorus

You will be my strength when I am weak
When I wanna give in and not turn the other cheek
Let this be the prayer that I speak
That I speak

okay oops i hope i'm not bolding the lyrics of the entire song. This song really spoke to me and enlightened me. When the world is all dark, when nobody is watching, it is when we should serve the Lord with more fervor than ever. Col 3:23 "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" Just hope this serves as a timely reminder that we do not put on an act or act differently when others are watching because our loving God's always watching, whether in the dark or in the light (:

sorry i don't know how to upload the video! but here's the link (:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WthZaU2PJVE

-edit:
Embed link added below =p:

New Layout

2010-03-19T11:12:00.002+08:00

Hi guys, I'm pretty sure you noticed that the blog looks kinda different, kinda darker maybe, kinda smaller. Well, yeah, you guessed it! We changed the layout.

So, how do you go about EDITING certain contents on this blog, things which there doesn't seem to be widgets for? Thanks to the great HTML skills of Emil, we have managed to make the blog user friendly and pretty at the same time. So, here's what you do.

1) Log into your blogger account
2) go to the fireac blog
3) Find the section you want to edit, and click on the small little icon, (yes, the one with a spanner and a screwdriver)

don't hesitate to message me on fb if the layout goes wrong! My FB account details are in the credits section.

Evangelism

2010-02-12T21:17:00.005+08:00

something i read recently:

The first requirement of postmodern evangelism is not that you are a good talker but that you are a good listener. In the rush of today's world, the gift of attention is one of the best gifts you can give someone. People don't have time to listen to one another.

- In Real Time, Mike Glenn

this really resonated with me. i don't claim to know much or be well-versed in the principles of evangelism but experience and observation (as well as biblical examples; read around pages 120+ here if you're interested!) cannot help but lead one to believe that we can love people (as we are very explicitly commanded to) by giving them attention instead of demanding it. and really, it's a joy to do so for it helps us further contemplate and understand the giving nature of God's love :)

song :)

2010-02-02T21:06:00.002+08:00

hello friends!
the past few weeks haven't been the best (well, for me). sometimes everything is so shaky, we feel so insecure, the future uncertain. emotions rocky and people unreliable. but amidst all this, we will praise God for he is our solid rock! and His holy, perfect and loving character never changes. as psalm 121 goes,

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

amen :) and here's a song that i hope encourages you

enjoy! God bless you all.

Milestone -- January 2010

2010-01-27T22:26:00.003+08:00

Hello friends and brothers and sisters in Christ! This is James Koh and I'm making my first (and hopefully not last) post here.

So it's been about a month since the year 2010 started, and I thought it would be nice to have a bit of reflection. January is almost over now, and school is beginning to kick into full swing.

Time's an interesting thing. Sometimes you feel as if the day's never going to end; other times, there seems like there's never enough time. A very paradoxical thing, time is.

Some days you wake up and feel as if there's not enough time in the world, and worry about how you're going to get everything done on time (year 6s especially), and sometimes even lapse into despair.

Yet surely there is a time for everything in the world, as Ecclesiastes states:

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

A time to be born and a time to die,

A time to plant and a time to uproot,

A time to kill and a time to heal,

A time to tear down and a time to build,

A time to weep and a time to laugh,

A time to mourn and a time to dance,

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

A time to embrace and a time to refrain,

A time to search and a time to give up,

A time to keep and a time to throw away,

A time to tear and a time to mend,

A time to be silent and a time to speak,

A time to love and a time to hate,

A time for war and a time for peace."

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, NIV)

And if there is a time for everything in the world, and the Lord our God is in control of it all, surely there is no cause for concern. For He knows all things, and all will surely work towards whatever His will may be. As Jesus Christ Himself states, in Matthew 6:25-34, Do Not Worry. Our heavenly Father, who takes care of the birds of the air, will surely watch over us as well. For "who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:27, NIV) (Or "single cubit to his height", for that matter. That certainly applies in my case.)

"For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:32-34, NIV)

What does this tell us? Firstly, that God should be the first thing in our lives that we chase after; all other things, as much as we need them, will be provided unto us by our Father in heaven, and do not merit so much concern. For if we worry too much about these things, we allow them to weigh us down and in doing so, affect our lives as well as our own walks with God.

Secondly, the Lord our God knows what it is that we need. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:16, NIV)

Have you heard of the parable of the persistent widow? (Luke 18:1-8) The woman, who desired "justice against [her] adversary", continuously went up to seek the judge, who cared nothing for men, and did not fear God. The judge ignored her time and again, but still she persisted. Finally, the judge gave up and decided to give her the justice that she so desired, for he was tired of her bothering him.

Why this parable? It was told by Jesus to his disciples, to "show them that they should always pray and not give up". This ties in with what is said in Philippians, regarding the presentation of our requests unto God. If the Lord knows what we need, and we as His children pray to Him and ask Him for those things, surely He will grant them unto us! That is not to say that such things will be provided instantly unto us, though. Still, do not be discouraged.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.... If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:9-10,13)

Having said all that, however, regarding the matter of worrying, though we are told not to worry, let us not become completely apathetic or indifferent to things. Time is precious, after all.

"Be very careful, then, how you live -- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." (Ephesians 5:15-17, NIV)

Life is given unto us by the Lord our God. So, then, how we live is a testament of our faith to God, as displayed to others. As the verse states, let us make the most of every opportunity, doing what the Lord's will may be.

Let me try to put this in context a bit. As students, we are given the opportunity to study in this school of ours, and with this opportunity, we should do our best to honour God by glorifying him in all that we do (i.e. results, homework, etc.). In the case of living wisely, let us not do anything that would dishonour God, nor anything that He would not approve of. For those of us in the ministry (or ministries), be it in school or in church, we have been given the opportunity to reach out to others and minister unto them, and to evangelize and spread God's Word as well. Let us to this to the best of our abilities, as well.

This is once again reiterated in Colossians:

"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity." (Colossians 4:5, NIV)

I will not claim that any of the things I have said above are easy to do, or easy to put into action; far from that, I know as much as anyone else that it is far easier to say these things than it is to actually do them. Nevertheless, as time passes by, let's try our best to do these things, for the sake of the Lord our God.

I'll start to wrap up around here (wow that's one long post!), but let me leave a few things behind for certain groups of people:

To the Year 6s:

Hey. Well, deadlines are popping up all over the place like nobody's business, but keep strong. This is our last year here. Let's make the most of it, for the Lord our God. Support each other, keep on going, and as Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy, let us follow his example, and fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. Perhaps we too are being poured out like drink offerings, doing our best for the Lord our God, as everything looms ahead. But hey, don't be discouraged. Keep praying, and spending time with God, seek Him in your time(s) of need, and surely He'll help us all make it through to the end.

"I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13, NIV)

To the Year 5s:

Welcome back to those of you from ACS(I), and welcome to the newcomers too. Welcome to IB. I'll be honest here, and most of you already know this, but: It's not going to be easy, these next two years. Time, which I've been jabbering on about in the previous hundreds of words for who knows how long, is an important thing here. Manage it well, use it well, don't end up leaving things to the last minute too often (which I have a tendency to do). Like my mum always tells me, you're the stewards of your time. Even if you're not accountable to any man on earth, at the end of the day, you'll be accountable to God for what you've done with your time. So take good care of your time! I won't claim to be a shining example of this (I'm pretty much the exact opposite, in fact), but trust me, you need to manage your time well.

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." (Luke 16:10) (This applies to time as well)

To Everyone Else:
I'm sorry for lumping all of you together in one big group like this, but aside from the above two groups, there's really not much else I can say to the rest of you, aside from what's already been written up there. Just... spend your time in the school well; it'll pass by more quickly than you think.

The End: (Written) Prayer in General

Father, I pray for all those who read this, that You will continue to watch over them and be with them, as You have always done. Father, You who created the Heavens and the Earth, Space and Time, You know how important Time is, and You know that we struggle with it.

So I pray that You will help us not to worry or be overly anxious about how short Time seems to be, Father, be it deadlines or exams or other things. Help us to trust in You, Lord, for through You all things are possible. At the same time, Father, help us to use our Time well, that we may be able to make the most of every opportunity, Father, and live wisely, Father, glorifying You in all that we do.

In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Amen.

For the glory of God, and the advancement of His will on Earth as it is in Heaven,

/JamesKoh

toil

2010-01-15T00:35:00.003+08:00

Dear friends (esp. y6es), I know that it hasn't necessarily been a good start to the year, what with most of us looking half-dead before the end of Term 1 Week 2, facing a hundred impossible deadlines which look ominously close to each other, and feeling much pressure come upon us. It's wearisome, working and working and working late into the night and morning.

But how about a paradigm shift?

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil–this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. -Ecclesiastes 5:18-20, ESV
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. - James 1:2-4, ESV

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. - 1 Thess. 5:16-18, ESV

Take a minute to breathe. Be still before Him; tune out noise and clutter for awhile and immerse yourself in His word, His goodness, His holiness and love. The commandments here might seem crazy and far-fetched and a biiit too extreme but then again, they are - by human effort, that is. Let go, let God (: Praying for you all!

New Paths

2009-12-29T19:06:00.004+08:00

To the graduating batch and the generations to come ;):

As one chapter of life ends, I've somewhat lost the stability of an already established ministry to come to everyday in school, to serve in and feel the Lord's presence. Yet the Lord is faithful, and has led me to discover new ministries to serve in, new challenges and opportunities, ones I may have overlooked because I was already engaged in another one. And one of these ministries was here all along; my family and friends. So to all who are or may have been wandering lost for the past months or so, as graduation approaches, continue to seek after the Lord, listen to His still, small voice, and be amazed at the new doors He opens for you everyday =)

so and here's something I read recently, to exhort and encourage you all to strive onwards in sharing the gospel everyday =) (sorry it's a little long, but I promise the end is worth it ^^ and anyway it's holiday, so no rush right? =D)

Robins, Anna. Sharing the Feast: Recipes for Evangelism and Discipleship for today's church. United Kingdom: Spring Harvest Publishing Division and Authentic Media, 2005. Print. p. 142-146

Two dinner parties, two different situations. At the first table, you're the guest of a work colleague whom you don't really know very well. As it turns out, you don't know any of the other guests very well either. You feel awkward and uncomfortable. You make a few false starts of conversation, but it's tough. Getting anything more than a grunt out of the guy slurping his soup is a Herculean task. The woman on the other side is talkative, but in fact, she won't shut up. She's been going on and on, giving you every sordid detail of her cat's killing escapades. If you had the feline within reach, you fear you might have one yourself. She seems not to care or even notice that you have glazed over ages ago, and have contented yourself with making designs in the breadcrumbs that fell between you bowl and the edge of the table. The evening won’t end soon enough for you.

At the second table, you’re with your best and oldest friends, all gathered in one place. There’s much noise and laughter, as you tease and insult each other, and share stories from work and home. You are so comfortable here that you don’t think about conversation as an effort. It flows freely, naturally. You know you’re accepted here, even when you say outrageous things, or when somebody else insists you’ll be fired for the practical joke you played on your boss at work. You’re very contented here, and so enjoy the communication, the food, and the company, that you wish it never had to end.

In the first situation, you wonder why you accepted the invitation in the first place. You have little in common with the people there, and yet, you want to connect with them, on some level. You know you’ll probably never be best friends, but still, it’s an opportunity, isn’t it? You try and make the best of it, because you never know when there might be an open door to say something good about Jesus. You never know when people are quietly watching you because they know you’re Christian. In the second - you’re comfortable and accepted but less likely to say anything about your faith because some of them are not Christians. They’re your good friends, so they know that Jesus is important to you, but you respect them and don’t want to push your beliefs on them.

This is the paradox of much of our evangelism today. We are surrounded by people we love, and who love us, but who do not know Christ. These are the people who accept us no matter what. The ones we’re related to haven’t any choice! And yet, we’ll struggle and strain to witness for Christ with those we hardly know, while ignoring the fact that we’re surrounded by opportunity in the faces and hearts of those we know best.

We can learn to let Christ flow naturally into the conversation; he’s not an agenda we’re pushing, just the way we see the world. If you’re skipping church to do something for your brother-in-law, don’t leave him with the impression that your religious life is expendable whenever something better comes along. Either tell him you’ll help him after church because that’s important to you, which will witness to your level of commitment to Christ, or if you do decide to spend time with him instead, make sure he knows why. ‘You know I normally would be at church this morning, but I decided it was important to be here for you as part of my commitment to Christ.’ So what if he thinks you’re a freak? At least he’ll know the Jesus freak will be there for him.

To skip an important community vision day at church to play a round of golf with non-Christian friends is justifiable only if you actually introduce Jesus into the conversation. Otherwise they see you only as a guy like them who would rather play golf and have a round at the clubhouse than hang out with a bunch of religious weirdos. It doesn’t necessarily bring them closer to the kingdom.

If we are going to have a real conversation with our culture about Jesus, we have to surrender the desire to be ‘normal’. I recently heard a group of young Christians bemoan the fact that they just want to be normal, live normal lives, go out on a Saturday night like normal people, dance on the table, like normal people do. I felt their longing for acceptance, but I believe they will have to give up the illusion of normalcy. To be a Christian in today’s world is not normal. The things that define a Christian and Christian belief, themselves are enough to set us apart as abnormal. If our dearest desire is to be ‘normal’, we have to give up being Christians.

This is what integrity as disciples require, and it spills over to our evangelism. What’s attractive about a faith you’re embarrassed to own? What’s enticing about something that doesn’t make you any different from those around you? If you’re just like them, why should they want to be jut like you? For one thing how do they know you’re a Christian, and why should they want to be Christian if it doesn’t make their lives any different? If we are normal, we are to be pitied. Our Christian discipleship is nothing but a waste of time, energy, and money. Or if discipleship is simply about doing good work, why not join Oxfam instead? You have your charity work and I have mine. If your Jesus is not worth introducing to all your friends, then he’s not the real thing.

The apostle Paul was willing time and again to encourage believers to follow is example, as he followed Christ’s. He further exhorted the members of the church to be examples to one another, and to those in their culture. In other words, to put it very basically, we are to let our light shine in this world. Since the world is often dark, the light is going to stand out. It will draw attention. Some will complain about it, because it will illumine the nature of their ill behaviour. Some will try to extinguish it. A few will ignore it. If we are human beings, living in this world, then we are as normal as we’re going to be. Being a Christian makes us abnormal. And we should be willing to acknowledge that in our living and in our conversations.

For example, the call to renounce worldly success and to seek after justice, to identify with the marginalized of our society, is not normal. To be a humble community of service is not normal. To welcome strangers, give sacrificially, to serve Christ and not consumerism, is not normal. To embark on initiatives that address the core issues in our neighbourhoods and communities is not normal. The call to discipleship is radical enough to reshape our lives so that we find ourselves so completely out of step with those around us. We need to see this as a good sign of Christ’s life at work in us. And we need to acknowledge that we cannot be a mission-shaped church without being first a disciple-shaped church.

Just some food for thought ;) happy new year in advance!

love,

pet

prayer

2009-11-26T08:34:00.003+08:00

sometimes when i encourage friends to start spending time with God regularly or pray more, they shake their heads and start gently explaining to me how much they have to do, how unbelievably busy they are.. i'm sure the story isn't an unfamiliar one, for sometimes we face that same battle within ourselves. it is a human tendency, because what we are thinking of at that moment is that prayer is going to cost us something - some time which we could have otherwise spent perfecting our world lit draft, or catching up with someone we haven't seen in ages, or getting some sleep. the very word spend indicates the nature of the activity; some sort of sacrifice on our part. and we begrudge it! as a result either spend that time with God unwillingly or decide not to spend it at all.

allow me to share something from a wonderful book:

"Oswald Chambers' godly reflection on prayer points us in the right direction:

Beware of placing the emphasis on prayer costs us; it cost God everything to make it possible for us to pray.

This truth exposes our fundamental problem. We are too man-centered (and therefore self-centered) in our basic orientation to life. We have not learnt to be God-centered. Thus, we sometimes begrudge what prayer costs us - and forget what it cost God!"

- Growing Deep in God, Edmund Chan

as the song lyric goes, we need to pray like never before!
so let's pray, people.

What Would He Say?

2009-11-19T19:26:00.001+08:00

What Would He Say?

If He should come today

And find my hands so full

Of future plans, however fair,

In which my Saviour had no share,

What would He say?

If He should come today

And find I had not told

One soul about my heavenly Friend

Whose blessings all my way attend,

What would He say?

If He should come today,

Would I be glad, quite glad?
Remembering He had died for all,

And none through me had heard His call,
What would He say?

Got it from my daily words of inspiration :D

we serve God by serving others

2009-11-17T19:56:00.002+08:00

Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Mark 10:43 (MSG)

The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige, and position. If you can demand service from others, you've arrived. In our self-serving culture with its me-first mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept.

Jesus, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not status. God determines your greatness by how many people you serve, not how many people serve you.

This is so contrary to the world's idea of greatness that we have a hard time understanding it, much less practicing it. The disciples argued about who deserved the most prominent position, and 2,000 years later, Christian leaders still jockey for position and prominence in churches, denominations, and parachurch ministries.

Thousands of books have been written on leadership, but few on servanthood. Everyone wants to lead; no one wants to be a servant. We would rather be generals than privates. Even Christians want to be "servant-leaders," not just plain servants. But to be like Jesus is to be a servant. That's what he called himself.

While knowing your shape is important for serving God, having the heart of a servant is even more important. Remember, God shaped you for service, not for self-centeredness. Without a servant's heart, you will be tempted to misuse your shape for personal gain. You will also be tempted to use it as an excuse to exempt yourself from meeting some needs.

God often tests our hearts by asking us to serve in ways we're not shaped. If you see a man fall into a ditch, God expects you to help him out, not say, "I don't have the gift of mercy or service."

While you may not be gifted a particular task, you may be called to do it if no one who is gifted at it is around. Your primary ministry should be in the area of your shape, but your secondary service is wherever you're needed at the moment.

Your shape reveals your ministry, but your servant's heart will reveal your maturity. No special talent or gift is required to stay after a meeting to pick up trash or stack chairs. Anyone can be a servant. All it requires is character.

It is possible to serve in church for a lifetime without ever being a servant. You must have a servant's heart.

How can you know if you have the heart of a servant?

Jesus said, "You can tell what they are by what they do" (Matthew 7:16 CEV).

- Rick Warren

Hmm, this is what i feel. So often we say we don't feel a certain calling, no conviction, no direction from God to do a certain something. Do you think many of these are just excuses? We have to draw a very distinct line between the two.

Seeing the unseen

2009-11-01T11:36:00.002+08:00

Hi guys,

Just reposting this from my daily online devotionals:

Listen to this majestic picture of God in Job 26:14. “These are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?” And 1 Peter 1:8. “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”

I bless your softness in the hands of your Father when you don’t understand what he’s doing. I bless your surrendered heart to look for him when he’s not doing what you wanted or expected. Every season has its beauty and is preparation for the next season. In this time of the hiding of his power, take faithful steps of faith and obedience, faith and obedience. Beyond obedience, even when you don’t see him, be blessed to love him with joy. Although you don’t see him now, be blessed to believe in him and be filled with glorious inexpressible joy… his joy.

Be blessed with eyes to see the fingerprints of his ways in your ordinary days, knowing that he says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

When you know you don’t understand and when you think you do, the earth keeps shouting to you that he is completely faithful. He is as faithful as the rain and snow that water the earth and make it bud and flourish and yield seed for the sower and bread for the eater. That’s the law of the harvest. He promises that his word to you is like that. “It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

As you see seed time and harvest in the natural realm yield its return every year, come into his courts with praise that you will reap a spiritual harvest as you sow in faith and joy. Worship leads you to rest and trust in his faithfulness, his sovereignty, and his love. Be blessed to see that God is there, increasing your knowledge and experience of himself. Know this: with each place he takes you in those sometimes not-your-first-choice circumstances, he draws you deeper into himself.

Even when you see only the edges of his ways, hear only his small whispers, and cannot understand him, he is the best. Even when he seems to have withdrawn from you, he promises that “you will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12). Remember that in the spring time when the trees are in blossom and in the autumn time when the leaves are turning brilliant colors. You can celebrate him in the growth points of your journey, even in his faintest whispers. Remember Elijah. God was not in the violent wind, or the fire, or the earthquake, but in the gentle blowing of the still small voice. Be blessed to line up with his still small voice practically and in prayer. Be blessed with an “upgrade” of your image of God, because what you think about him, who he is to you, is the single most important element in trusting him and bearing fruit in every good work (Colossians 1:9-13).

God bless for the IB examinations/A levels (if any stumble upon this blog :P) and in everything to come in the next month

x Jayce!

Notice

2009-10-20T18:28:00.003+08:00

Hello all! Hope you've all had a good rest over the past few days :)

This is just to let you all know that FireAC will still be going on every morning, starting this Thursday. Do bring a bible and a willing heart, and see you there!

(:

2009-10-14T05:45:00.002+08:00

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

Come and see the works of the Lord,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

--

Dear friends, press on (: Trust wholly in Him, keep your mind steadfastly on Him, and He will grant you perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3) May this exam season be one of drawing nearer to the Father by delighting, resting and trusting Him more and more and by marveling at His creation (we study His work!). In everything, let us do it in Christ alone, by Christ alone, and for Christ alone (:

Take care, and do pray for each other!

God is faithful

2009-10-14T01:44:00.005+08:00

My dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings to you!

As we are in the midst of or preparing for our examinations, let us remember that our God is faithful in every season of our lives, and that He is forever worthy to be praised.

Here is a song that i would like to share with you, may your mind & spirit be renewed in Christ as you worship Him in spirit, in truth and with joy:

Desert Song (This is Our God)

This is my prayer in the desert
And all that’s within me feels dry
This is my prayer in the hunger in me
My God is a God who provides

And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon forged against me shall remain

I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

And this is my prayer in the battle
And triumph is still on it’s way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I’ll stand

All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I’m filled to be emptied again
The seed I’ve recieved I will sow

God bless for the challenges ahead!

philippians 4:4-7

2009-09-27T20:59:00.001+08:00

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

As we enter into the week before final examinations (or the final week of prelims), let's meditate upon this peace which is above and beyond our understanding! Amidst our internal/external/otherwise assessments which continuously test understanding (Criterion A anyone?), rejoice in the fact that we can, and should, delight in God's peace which we don't have to puzzle over but simply accept as a gift from God after having brought all our worries to Him :)

Praying for you all,
rachelmiao!

(PS if you remember, a couple of weeks ago the leaders mentioned that anyone needing prayer could contact us - the offer still (and always) stands! Or you could leave a tag over there ---> :D)

2009-09-24T12:56:00.002+08:00

Hi! :)

Been dead here for ages, but anyway hello again! I recently came across this article (as follows, click on the link cos it's really long... What I've posted beneath is only one paragraph from the middle to give you an idea of what it's about. Not the first paragraph cos it's rather morbid, as you'll find)

Not sure what y'all think of it - but I believed it brilliantly written. So yup, wanted to share it w you guys - esp considering the school's evangelistic movement. E.g. reviving the FireAC FB group or something (we have one right...? I think :P My FB is locked down so I can't check). Like it says, alot of the rationale is that social media reaches out to sooooo many people - and guaranteed not all will truly respond to all the 'Newsflashes', but perhaps an unsuspecting soul might one day. And one person is better than nothing, as we've always believed in ;)

So anyway, here you go -

What Would Jesus Tweet

...

Just when many of us who have been around the proverbial block a few times have made our peace with so many changes in how ministry is done, now along comes a whole new genre of technology and practice to sweep the world and invade our parishes and pews.
I mean, seriously, didn't we just get Power Point, like, last month? Now we are being told something about our face needing to be booked and some kid is asking us if we are on Twitter?

...

... And all the best for exams! God bless

Jayne

Coming Alongside =)

2009-09-20T17:53:00.002+08:00

Let's never forget the great work He has called all of us, His children, to strive towards... =)

Coming Alongside

by John Fischer
__________________________________________________________

I am normally not a fan of ten steps to this or five ways to do that. But for one of my recent talks I came up with these six things to remember about being around those who may not yet be Christians, and thought some of you might find it useful.

1) Assume everyone is searching for God. Why? Because everyone is. We were created this way. God has purposely frustrated humanity by creating us with eternity in our hearts, yet with an inability to fathom what that is or what it means (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11). He has done this so that we might reach out for him and find him though He is not far from any of us for in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:27-28).

2) Come alongside. This is really the crux of it all. Just walk alongside people and enter into their lives. Listen. Talk. Laugh. Cry. Find out where you can contribute and what you can learn. There’s something to give and something to receive in every relationship.

3) Point. You don’t tell someone what the truth is; you point to it. “There it is over there,” or “Here it is in my life.” This is why we need to learn to identify truth in the context of the world around us. Truth isn’t religious. You don’t have to get into a certain posture to see it. It’s not something that hasn’t been there all along.

4) Find out what people already know before you set out to tell them anything. Don’t ever think you have to clear the table and start over. This is why it’s so important to listen first. Find out what’s already on the table that you can use.

5) You don’t have to tell everything you know. Just the next thing.

6) You don’t have to correct everything someone says that is wrong. You are not the protector and defender of truth. You don’t have to decide where to draw the line. You don’t even have to be concerned if someone may be walking away with the wrong idea. You are not that smart anyway because you don’t know what’s in someone’s head. As long as they have something to think about, that’s a good thing.

And now here’s the one final thing that makes all this possible. It is the most important of all. (This is the one thing that makes all six of these make sense.) We don’t save anybody, convince anybody, “win” anybody to Christ or close the deal. All that is God’s business. The Holy Spirit is doing this all on His own terms and timetable. We are not salesmen, marketing reps, counselors or prosecutors. We are just friends who come alongside.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/09/19/jf_alongside/

Sent to me by Jayne =)

The Vulgarities in Life

2009-09-20T17:35:00.003+08:00

maybe it has been quite a while since someone actually sat down and talked to you face-to-face about the values that you must hold on to. or probably you have already heard it a thousand times, for example during p.c lessons. then, you must be wondering "oh my, what is this post trying to say? why would i want to know what this is all about?"

wells, yes, sometimes it's hard and difficult to always hearing the same old things again and again. but if we don't remind ourselves about bad habits, we'll never kick out of it. instead, we will continue to go on and on, becoming more brave each time. an example we can relate to is stealing - first time, it might be just a small item. the subsequent times, the item might be more expensive and then this "thrill" that one has will become harder to satisfy each time one steals. the same thing goes for vulgarities.

if you consider yourself a christian, and have been saying vulgarities like the f-word, then you should start to make a u-turn, immediately. many non-christians look up to christians as role model. yes, maybe you don't realise it now or you never will, but the fact is, many people out there do make a comparison to us christians. similarly, many non-christians also do not need timely reminders to tell them what is right and what is wrong, neither do they get influenced by their peers. if we want to spread the Word and continue to glorify God, it's never too late to make the change before changing others as well.

i myself am proud to say that i've never said the f-word in my whole life, and probably you too, but if you spot people around you, why not make them change? maybe not almost immediately, but make an impact on them, and hopefully, one day they will say less and less ... before finally, poof! wouldn't it be nice to hear someone you know years ago who regularly say "f" this "f" that, and then after sometime, he/she just admits "yes, i've kicked the habit. and this is really by the chance of meeting _______ that i'm able to be a new person. refreshed and never regretting the change."

let today be the day where you make a promise to be a new you. it's never too late to change, but it will be too late if you procrastinate.

c'mon brothers & sisters in Christ,
michael

wrap-up: term 4 week 1

2009-09-18T21:42:00.001+08:00

Hello people!

If you've been coming down you'll know that in the past week we've been talking about Focus, or where we fix our eyes upon (what constantly occupies your attention or what drives you; the first thing you find yourself thinking about every morning, perhaps). To put it briefly, you heard about: 1. Not focussing on what we aren't supposed to focus on (earthly treasures, man/people/self, etc.) and 2. Focussing on, of course, God. Well these are all things we all pretty much know (though still need to be constantly reminded of). But to wrap up I thought I'd talk about the link between these two points.

Think of the lyrics of the hymn: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus/ Look full in His wonderful face,/ And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,/ In the light of His glory and grace." What struck me was that it's a cause-effect relationship: only when we turn our eyes upon the Lord and focus on Him, then everything else we've ever desired will pale ridiculously in comparison! I think that often we overdo the not-focussing-on-ungodly-things part, berating ourselves for being worldly, trying desperately to control our thoughts and desires, and in the process fail to simply abide in the Lord (1 John 2:28) and be with Him. And when that happens, we often end up miserable and exhausted, wondering what went wrong. So dear friend, if you find that you're wrestling to let go of worldly things, or not to place so much worth in things you know you shouldn't, don't simply struggle to suppress it; allow God, a powerful, supernatural and loving God, to overwhelm it! The things of the world don't fade simply because we try and shut our eyes our purify our own thoughts; they disappear when we experience God more and more.

Another thing is that too often there is this mistaken underlying feeling or notion that choosing to focus and place our worth in God is the less enjoyable thing, a "sacrifice" that we dutifully make only because we are good and obedient. Yet quite the opposite is true:

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

I'll just end off with Hebrews 12:1-2:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Have a blessed long weekend ahead :)

Making God our best.

2009-09-17T22:02:00.002+08:00

Well it’s been a while I guess, since I last posted on this blog.

Whilst hearing much about focusing on God in the past week, I couldn’t help but realize the focus on the theme of putting God first in everything. This is undoubtedly important, and could be said to be one of the marks of a Christian. But it begs the question, how? To what effect? And Why? I remember Michael saying: “You just feel better that you have spent time with God over doing well for that subject”. That essentially summarizes the whole feeling of what we’re supposed to feel when we have spent time with him.

What I want to say today would be one of another perspective and things to keep in mind. Around a week ago, a friend had mentioned to a few of my friends and I saying “I see a growing rift in how I behave as a Christian in front of Christians and in front of non-Christians.” No doubt, her intentions to better herself were virtuous, in hope that she would be good enough to be a Christian for the world to see, if not, why be a Christian, it would be very hypocritical don’t you think?

I often hear this statement resonating in my mind from time to time – He or she is a Christian why is he or she like this? Then looking back into my own life I see all the flaws that would make me so awfully sinful, then I wonder – In that case, are all Christians hypocrites? In a simple definition of ‘hypocrites’ we would see one who does not practice what we preach. We see Christians telling each other off and telling one another what the word of God says, and in the end not living up to it. Then we would end up coming back to the question – I can’t live up to being a Christian, so hypocrite? So why be a Christian and end up getting judged by people around and spoil the image of a Christian?

Well my answer to this is Grace & Love. How often have we forgotten the basis of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? How much have we forgotten “The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel” – 1 Corinthians 9:14

So what does that all mean? Let me give a simple analogy that the Holy Spirit had helped me draw out through several months of qt. Imagine the relationship as that of a father and child, (as we always were taught about in Romans 8:15 “Spirit of sonship, and by whom we cry Abba, Father”.) Draw the parallel between the relationship of a child and father and that of God and us. Imagine a familiar scenario. Daddy says “Don’t touch the iron, it’s hot”, and by a child’s inquisitive nature we go touch it when he’s not looking and get burnt. Then Dad returns and goes, “sigh. I told you so”. Or what about this, Daddy says “Don’t cram so many things in your day”, and you thinking “hey I’m a teenager, so full of energy, I think I can do it.” And at the end of the day, you didn’t do your best for anything because you were so tired, you end up making things worse. Then we cry out to daddy and say “why? Why!?”

I guess in the same way, we could relate that to sin, God telling us don’t do this don’t do that, it’s bad for you. But we in our happy-go-lucky-smart-aleck self decide that we know what’s best and do it, reaping sad consequences. But in the end of it all, God is always there to pick us up. It is in these failings that we would learn to trust in Him and listen to what He says to us. It is also in this we learn of His ways, His will for us and His will for the people around us – Knowing the Father’s heart. How you may ask? Let’s take another analogy, something probably closer to heart of teenagers (maybe a BGR or just a BFF [best friend forever *as girls like to call it*]), when we spend time with these special people in our lives, we would learn of their likes and dislikes as we invest into these relationships with them. And extrapolating as such to a relationship with God, we would know what he dislikes and likes, we would know of his nature and with that knowledge we could become what He desires us to become – More Like Christ.

In the same way that we would learn about Him, and possibly experience what He experiences as we learn of His heart, we realize sometimes much of this is just head knowledge, stuff we would know is right, stuff we know he dislikes, stuff that we know would please him, stuff that sometimes we feel we cannot live up to. What I always liked to call it, Head Knowledge vs Heart Knowledge, doing something because we know it’s right vs doing something naturally because we feel and know without uncertainty that it’s right. It’s often a hard and arduous process , but FEAR NOT! Jesus said in John 16:13 “But when the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” He will guide us INTO ALL TRUTH, He will let us experience it and live by it. Sharings at FireAC, devotions, Sermons, Teachings can only bring you unto truth, not into it to experience and live by it.

It is the Holy Spirit that will be with us and change us in the process of Sanctification into becoming perfect as we enter into His presence in heaven forever. So going back to the point of feeling hypocritical, I would say this –The start of any change and possibly another mark of a Christian is how much we are willing to change, for as long as we are willing, God will do the rest.

In the same way about changes, I would say this about the relationship we have with God our father because of the wonderful sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a 2 way relationship, God will do His best for us (as seen on the cross) and he will continue to, and in the hope that we ourselves will give our best to God, and make God our best. For “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly Lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17.

There’s a common misconception that God is only willing to gives us what we need, not what we want, well, I doubt that’s a father. "Which of you fathers if a son asks for for a fish will give him a snake? If you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will our Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?" Matthew 7:19-11

We see Dr Ong always quoting this verse from the Psalms, “Delight yourself in the Lord, God will grant us the desires of our heart.” Psalms 37:4. So if we delight in the relationship, we would learn his thoughts and change to become more like him as established earlier, making His desires our desires, and God will grant us the desires of our hearts. So is that just the need? I doubt it. To make someone happy, we would often times give them something they want, not just what they need. More so our Father in heaven who gives us the very best, for “Our God will meet all our needs according to his riches in glory” Philippians 4:19, not from his riches, but according to what he has, so as a measure of what he has is a measure of what he will give to us. An overflowing and far surpassing providence over that of need!

With respect to exams, just an observation (you could call it an epiphany) of sorts. Always remembered when we used to say we do our best and let God do the rest, (though not Biblical) we realize that God doing the rest is like 99.999999999% where our best is a mere 0.00000000001%. So why not, we let God be our best, instead of asking God to help us do our best, we let God work through us in everything, and hence, he becomes our best as his Best is brought out in us.

So what are you waiting for? God will carry you through and He is just waiting for you to say Yes. Yes to His blessings and his calling. Give God your best and make him your best!

Second Chance by Hillsong

2009-09-13T23:44:00.000+08:00

You called my name, reached out your hand,
Restored my life, and I was redeemed,
The moment you entered my life,
Amazing grace, Christ gave that day,
My life was changed,
Went from my shoulders, fell the weight of my sin

Chorus

So it's with everything I am,
I reach out for your hand,
The hope that changed a second chance I've gained,
On you I throw my life, casting all my fears aside,
How could greater love then this, ever possibly exist

Consume my thoughts, as I rest in you,
I'm now in love, with a Saviour,
Bearing the marks of his love

Chorus x2

Bridge

So I wait upon you now,
With my hands released to you,
Where a little faiths enough,
To see mountains lift and move,
Yeah and I wait upon you now,
Dedicated to your will,
To this love that will remain,
A love that never fails

it's so amazing how God always gives us second chances, even when we fail, He is always there to pick us up. We just have to surrender all our fears and failures to Him and allow Him to change your life and remove your burdens (:

Hope everyone has a good day at school tomorrow as the holidays draw to a close!

We Fall Down..

2009-09-13T18:05:00.001+08:00


You, O Lord, are a holy God
Your ways are perfect and just
Slow to anger and abounding in love
You have shown us your Father's heart

But we your people have turned from You
Resisting Your power and grace
Taking our lives into our hands 
We have stumbled and lost our way

CHORUS:

So we humble ourselves before you
And confess our unfaithfulness toward you
Forgive our sins, remove our shame
Restore the church that bears your name
That revival may come to this land once again.

-So how far have we gone?

What do you spend your time on?

2009-09-12T17:57:00.000+08:00

I'm sure everybody knows that the exams are coming up. But are you the sort that spends hours pouring over your books, refusing to eat, drink or sleep? If you are, then I suggest you watch out. Are the examinations taking over your time, taking over your brain, taking over God's position in your life?

It is okay to study, but if you obsess, then it's not so good.

Here's a small reminder, to remember God, don't forget Him in this busy time of examination preparation. We'll be talking more about this topic this coming week.

See you all in school on Monday! :D

with much much love,
Eunice

psalm 23

2009-09-07T20:31:00.002+08:00

Last night (or this morning) as I was lying in bed, Psalm 23:1 came to mind. I'm sure it's a verse you're all very familiar with - "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want." Undoubtedly, psalm 23 is a beautiful psalm of praise and it always brings great encouragement. But last night/this morning, those last six words really tugged at me and made me ask myself, "Am I in want?" (The answer: Yes, I am, and terribly often.)

Firstly to clarify, to be "in want" isn't the same as "to have a desire" (which can be a good thing if from God); it refers to being deficient, or needing something. The Message translates this verse as "God, my Shepherd! I don't need a thing." (apart from the Shepherd la). Yet we always find ourselves needing things. Perhaps not just material things, but consider these: recognition/approval, opportunities, civil treatment, satisfactory grades (even ones we "deserve"), human love?

Many of us are so blessed (good friends, good education, etc.) that sometimes we don't realize we depend on these things until they are taken from us and we find ourselves dissatisfied, disgruntled and feeling wronged (as if we had a right to them). But that simply doesn't make sense- if the Lord is our shepherd, we have no reason at all to be in want! If God is our All in All, what deficiency can we complain of? What a wonderful thought.

So the next time you find yourself "needing" something, I encourage you to remember this verse, consider that God knows our needs far better than we know our own, will meet them far better than we can think of (see Philippians 4:19) and thank Him for His gracious provision in our lives :)

Also, have a wonderful September holiday! :D I pray that it will be an opportunity to catch up on sleep, with people and your work. Five (free-er) days can be a great chance to spend more time immersing yourself in God's word :)

In love,
rachelmiao

A look into the past

2009-09-07T20:18:00.002+08:00

Hey homies,

There have been no updates for quite some time and I don't exactly have any input but let me copy some of the posts from the past...

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow

I don't know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day;
I don't borrow from it's sunshine, For it's skies may turn to gray.
I don't worry o'er the future, For I know what Jesus said;
And today I'll walk beside Him, For He knows what lies ahead

Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand

Ev'ry step is getting brighter, As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev'ry burden's getting lighter, Ev'ry cloud is silver-lined.
There the sun is always shining, There no tear will dim the eye;
At the ending of the rainbow, Where the mountains touch the sky

Begin Living

For those who are weary, He will give you rest.
For those who are anxious, He will grant you peace of mind.
For those who are sick, He will heal.
Just trust in Him with all your heart, for there is nothing that the Creator of this world cannot do.

We neglect God all too often in our daily hustle and bustle, trying to get things done by our own strength, and forgetting that He is the one who provides the strength for us to get by each day. As we now face our different trials and tribulations, it is always a great reminder to know that Jesus will give us the strength to get by. And Gerald just gave these words of encouragement to me yesterday. If there's any obstacle we're facing, no matter how big, God will always grant us the strength and grace to get through it. He's bigger.

And no matter how much we've pushed Him away from us, He's always there when we need Him. Life seems unfair doesn't it? Yet we're being the unfair ones when we leave God so often and expect Him to be there for us when we're down. But yet, thanks to His undying love and mercy, He'll never fail. He wants more than anything for us to be reunited with Him, to draw close to Him and just revel in His presence. Surely such a great God shouldn't be underestimated and taken for granted?

So let us always turn to Him first whenever we face our problems. Let us always praise Him in good times and in bad. We tend to only praise God when things are going well, and curse Him when life is rough. Or we cry out to Him for help in times of trial, but ignore Him when we're doing all fine. Worship should be a lifestyle, a 24 hour thing. Devoting our lives as living sacrifices.

An issue I'd like to bring up. I know we have our detractors. Those who view us as some cult of sorts. Just a reminder not to be discouraged. Even as we embark on our task to save our 50 souls, pray for wisdom, pray for patience, pray for guidance. God never said it would be easy. Those who chose to follow Him would have to lay down everything, and undergo great suffering. Are we prepared to do that? Some of you might have heard, that if we don't know what we'd be willing to die for, we haven't begun living. Are we willing to die for the Lord?

This post is meant to be more of an encouragement to those who are in need of it. Its something to spur us all on, that despite our worldly troubles, we'll eventually win the prize we have waiting for us in heaven. And to help all our unsaved friends, get to know this wonderful God, and share our joy.

Maybe this post didn't capture what I wanted to say very well. I'm tired, we're all stressed. But in the end, its all just human failings. Only God can show you the way, and only He can help you through all your problems. Lean on Him.

Proclaiming God's grace,
- Fabriz

Our Calling in not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that the gospel of God should be recognized as the abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell-it is redemption. The need to perceive this is the most vital need of the Christian worker today. As workers we have to get used to the revelation that redemption is the only reality. Personal holiness is an effect of redemption, not the cause of it. If we place our faith in human goodness we will go under when testing comes.

Paul did not say that he separated himself, but "when it pleased God, who separated me..." (Galations 1:15). Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. "Don't ask me to be confronted with the strong reality of redemption on behalf of the filth of human life surrounding me today; what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes" To talk that way is a sign that the reality of the gospel of God has not begun to touch me. There is no reckless abandon to God in that. God cannot deliver me while my interest in merely in my own character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose- to proclaim the gospel of God(see Romans 9:3).

In the Faith of Jesus Christ,
Lin Xunliang

what are we waiting for?

In church today, the pastor asked the question,

"Do you know Jesus?"

He said, all those who know Jesus please stand up.
As expected, almost the entire church stood up. There was no doubt, no denial. It was clear - everyone of us knew Jesus and placed Him as the King of our lives. Then the pastor asked,

"If you know Jesus, why aren't you doing anything about it?"

This question left me pondering and reflecting about myself as I realized I did not have enough urgency in my heart to share the word of Christ with the world. God gave us 24 hours a day, yet sometimes we just let the days slip past. Jesus commanded us "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation". Jesus is our saviour and He exists in our lives...is that a good news to us? Everyday as we pray, we get to meet the most awesome wonderful amazingggggggg God...is that a good news to us?

Let's say one day, you suddenly meet hmmmm.. TOM CRUISE. or JOHNNY DEPP! (i guess this applies more to girls ^_^ ) Not only that, guess what?! You talked to him for a loooong time. WOW. I think I would be calling all my friends and sharing with them my excitement. "Oh my gosh, I talked to TOM CRUISE today!" You get the picture.

Well then, compared to this, what a great joy and excitement do we have in having Jesus as our Lord! Jesus, the King of the entire universe. King of you and me and Tom Cruise and everyone else in the planet. Shouldn't we be sharing with the world our joy of knowing Him personally?

In FireAC, we always ask God to give us a revival, that He would set as on fire for Him.
But the thing is, this fire starts from..... *drum roll*...... YOU. It starts from ME. from each one of us. This revival doesn't just happen one day when we keep waiting, doing nothing about it, and not answering His call to each one of us.

Are we placing God as the most important part of our lives right now? If not, what are we waiting for? Why not start devoting more time with Him and letting Him be the number one in our lives?

Are we sharing the word of Christ to others? If not, what are we waiting for? Why not start now?

Time is running out.
What are we waiting for?
Why not start now?
Right now.
Let us all let God move in us.
Right now.

underground operation

(before this starts to sound like some jihad terrorist organization rally message, let us clarify that it is not)

as Christians we live in an upside down kingdom, ruled by the greatest and only King of the universe, but nevertheless it is a kingdom ruled in love, and ruled by morals unheard of to the world: while one takes revenge in the world, another turns the other cheek in the upside down kingdom; while one strives to store up riches, the other forsakes all for the call;

i besiege all belonging to this upside down kingdom today - to remember your citizenship!

start to hold the fort. we're in an underground operation here. persecuted but not completely struck down; hard-pressed on all sides but not giving in; perhaps some of us have not realized the extent of the battle - that ongoing war between the principalities of light and darkness, the fighting going on on the spiritual battlefield - but it is happening, even as we walk to school, partake of the fellowship during recess - it is happening.

and get this. it appears at times, that we are fighting a losing battle. in the light of the happenings of this world, it seems that us, underground operations, will never see the light of day. Yet there is one, one comforting word, that we must all remember. the great commander, whilst He was here beside us said those few words:

"But take heart, for I have already overcome the world!"

and here we are, just occupying the land for this little moment, trying at best to bring others to follow us on the cause, to convince others of the truth of the message, to build up the Lord's army. Have we forgotten the sacrifice He made for us - that life which he gave for us to guarantee us the victory? that moment, when he passed on, and when He returned with the promise, was the moment that we knew, that the battle was already won (:

still. this is not a reason to rest on our laurels. we must continue to be filled with passion for the cause, and be creative in the methods of defence, offence; infiltration of enemy ground - for all those he has taken hostage, we need to steal them back from under His nose.

first. be convicted of the cause.
second. direct the conviction in creative means
third. pray. and rely on the strength of our Grand Commander.

yes pray. because in our base. there are a group of prayer warriors, who fight not physically but call upon the name of our Grand Commander, to cry out to Him for grace and mercy to aid us in the cause. and the best part - He is always listening, always ready to help - and His angels guard us, His army stands before us. and we have Nothing To Fear. absolutely.

so why wait. let's go out. and do this for His glory.

that the Lord may receive the reward for His grand sacrifice on the cross!!

Flame On!

in love and humility
God be glorified
tim

Reflect

2009-08-31T19:36:00.000+08:00

I've been thinking again, about how one year has passed by so fast. Even though it's only september, maybe it's time we should all sit back and reflect. Reflect on what has happened these past 8 months, reflect on how God was worked in your life. Think about whether your actions have glorified God's name, think about the people you have met, and whether you have influenced them in a positive way, or they have influenced you.

Maybe we should all take a break from our busy lives, from studies, from IP, from IB, from friends, even from the computer. You never know what you might get out from it.

I doubt the word "reflection" is appealing to anybody, but take it as a time of relaxation, daydream, think. Just be quiet and be still, for that is the time when God can talk to you. I know for a fact, if we're so noisy, throwing everything at God then running off, there's no way that conversation is going to go more than a mere monologue. So dear brothers and sisters, take this teacher's day holiday, put down your work for maybe just half an hour. Listen to God.

Believe me, you'll benefit.

Once again, if there is anything you want to talk about, anything you need praying or caring for, the year five leaders are always open. Be it a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or just a comforting presence, God will give us time to give it to you. :D

With much much love,
Eunice <3

PR.

2009-08-28T22:42:00.001+08:00

Prayer works wonders, and we [the year five leaders] want to pray for you. On behalf of you, with you, anything. If there is anything troubling you and you don't know who to share it with, you can drop anyone of us an email. Ben Sim, Zacary, Rachel, Liana and myself. Our numbers are at the side, but if you want it to be anonymous, I'm sure you'll figure a way out. Maybe you could put your request at the fountain before fireac starts in the morning. :D

Basically, feel free to share your burden(s) with us.

<3
Eunice

2009-08-21T22:55:00.001+08:00

hmm, i'm not sure if any of you have heard about danza! 2009. I just wanted to share a testimony about how good God has been and His grace really is amazing. Danza!2009 is a dance concert that sandra, gracefong, larisa and i are organising. we felt called by God to do something life changing, not for any CAS project or to boost our resume, that's just quite.. superficial. We wanted to do something bold, something brave for His glory. so this is an excerpt of the email i sent to the committee of danza. i really feel so encouraged and blessed by the holy spirit. we are nothing, and He's everything.

so anyway here goes, i was just thinking about how incredible God has been to us. He has blessed us so richly and plentifully. We should really be giving thanks to Him, who is above all things (:

We were really struggling to find groups to perform, as you all know, everyone's busy with schoolwork and other commitments and they just aren't prepared to set aside time. We tried all ways and means to get participants but at the end of our "deadline", we had ZERO groups. imagine how disappointed and stressed out we were. Honestly, so many people were telling me to just drop the project and give up. But no, we persisted and God saw how hard we had worked and granted us the desires of our heart. After exhausting every single contact, we still had no participants. haha, at one point in time, i was just scrolling through my phone contact list to see who could possibly be able to put up an item. it's now 2 weeks after our deadline and we have a whooping TEN groups, see why i say God is so gracious to us? RJC, Hwa Chong, ACSI, PJC, RP, MGS are some of the groups just to name a few.

I was praying with sandra that morning and i realised that before the deadline loomed, i never really prayed and committed this whole event to God. Possibly because we were overconfident and felt that we could do this without His intervention and help since we had experience in this anyway. But He has shown us mercy, we prayed hard after our deadline and i realised that this whole event hadn't been centred around God at all. We didn't seek His will in our planning process and we just relied on our own strength, which was clearly lacking and insufficient.

Today was a really awesome day and i just wanted to share it with all of you. First, we got confirmation from mg that they would participate, it came as a shock to us because we tried so hard to persuade them but to no avail. Suddenly, we receive a call from mrs grace poh confirming that they would be keen. haha, the joy of it all (: then we met these 2 production directors who are normally so busy they don't even have time to respond to emails. but by the grace of God, they just appeared right smack in front of our face because our meeting today coincided with another dance showcase that they were doing (: so praise the Lord (: Also, we managed to get the sponsorship of tote board so that should increase our revenue slightly. God really performs miracles. just a few weeks ago, we were all so downcast and like, unprepared to give up but the situation was giving us no other way out. indeed, laying our burdens down at the feet of the Lord is really a foolproof way because God's love transcends all understanding and it's beyond anything we can fathom (:

okay i love all of you very much!! keep up with your studies!! danza is in a weeks' time! let's strive to glorify God through this and let us not get carried away by the ways of the world and focus on the wrong things. let's just remember today that we set out to do this to spread awareness more than anything else. raising funds is just a secondary aim so we'll just try our best to minimise the cost and maximise our outreach (:

let's not be disillusioned by the numerous problems we're facing now but give thanks to God for all the blessings He has granted us (: 1 tim 6:6 "But godliness with contentment is great gain"

In His name,
liana!

Psalm 18: 28-36

"You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
With your help i can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.

As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord is flawless.
He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is the Rock except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he enables me to stand on the heights.
He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You give me your shield of victory,
and your right hand sustains me;
you stoop down to make me great.
You broaden the path beneath me,
so that my ankles do not turn."

love,
liana!

sharing on worship

2009-08-20T18:45:00.000+08:00

Sharing by Shaun Lim on 19th August 2009 on the nature of worship:

Can our worship ever be ‘bad’ and unpleasing to God? Yes; 1 Samuel 15:22 says “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the Lord?" Saul disobeyed what God told him to do, and kept the best Amalekite cattle and sheep to sacrifice to God instead of destroying them. The sacrifices offered by Saul in this case were unpleasing to God because he was just sacrificing for the sake of it and for getting the approval of Samuel, without the true intention to glorify God. Worship offered to the Almighty that is half-hearted or hypocritical is worse than not worshipping at all. Revelation 3:16 – Because you are lukewarm – neither cold nor hot – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Hindrances to worship today:

1. Lackadaisical approach to worshipping
o Blessed environment in ACS(I) – worship sessions held weekly at Chapel, FireAC daily worship, other instances – worship becomes very “normal” and not exciting and refreshing each time
o God being omnipresent and with us always, at our beck and call, so to speak
+ He has offered us this privilege, but we as puny humans end up treating him and time with him lightly
o When we worship, we meet God! Yet we sing for the sake of singing and repeat some memorized words to a memorized tune – not transformed by it!
o Worship is praise and honour offered to the Almighty, to worship lightly and mechanically borders on blaspheming His Name
o Ancient times – only the High Priest allowed to enter the Holy of Holies – awesome glory of his presence
o God is the same yesterday and today – He is still the same God who struck 70 people down at Beth Shemesh in 1Samuel 16:19 for looking into the ark of God
+ God is Love but He is also Holy – if we don’t feel humbled by his presence, we have not come into the holiness of God

2. Peer Pressure within the ACS(I) Community
o Irony – often the peer pressure is more to appear holy and Christian, rather than to be persecuted for Him
o Within Christian communities of FireAC, BB or CF, pressure to worship and be Christ-like just because the rest of the community is doing so
o Usually a positive effect because there is accountability in Christ as a group
+ but may lead to people being coated in a “shiny plastic shrink wrap” of holiness, covering an inside decaying Christian soul
o Worship Him for the true intention of doing so and for Him instead of for your peers to see

3. Emotionalism in worship
o Lack of faith in worship – lack of faith that God will come, that God will be in our presence, that God will touch our hearts
o Resultant attempt to engineer ‘holy feelings’ by increasing the volume of the music, singing more emotionally stimulating songs like Power of Your Love, arranging different songs to configure the atmosphere
+ Feebly plays on emotions to take the place of God in our worship
o Often confusing emotions with the Holy Spirit – worship then becomes events of secular high rather than communion with God
o Worship should just be about you and God, not about anything else – music and songs are an aid to an end, not an end unto itself
o Very important because it is very easy to lapse into this – both are intangible feelings which we may often mix up whether deliberately or accidentally
+ Worship is not about the music or the quality of the singing etc – have faith that when you worship, God is there – and He will be there.

4. John 4:24 – God is Spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth
o Worship in spirit, not in our physical senses and body
o Sense God and worship him in the Spirit man, to sense him in the Spirit rather than to worship with merely our tongues and music, or seek to hear, see, feel or touch God tangibly
o Body as three parts – body soul and spirit. Worship through our mind, emotions and body, but it is our spirit that worships Him and communicates with the Holy Spirit
o Worship near him, not from afar – in times past, Jews worshipped through their High Priest and as sinful man as holy God, separated by sin
o Jesus’ death tore the veil and has He has become our High Priest forever, and we may enter into his presence – enter into his presence and delight in his love each time we worship!

He does not seek worship as such. God is not so insecure that he requires worship in itself, but He desires worshippers whose hearts are surrendered to Him. The reason that he desires this is so that He can have the relationship with us that He has always wanted; an intimate relationship.

the world vs GOD

2009-08-19T21:21:00.000+08:00

Hello all you lovely people out there,

Today I was doing my mock TOK essay and I suddenly thought of this just now. You know how we say that religion, our religious believes and values affect the way we think? But have you stopped to consider that the world has also influenced the way we think?

The first part of Ephesians 2 says
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature.

Yeah, sure. You may be thinking. Maybe you don't believe that this applies to you. Maybe you don't believe that you have ever followed the ways of the world. Then how about the time you lied? How about the time you cheated? How about the time you laughed when someone bullied someone else? How about the time you didn't feel disgusted at the conversations dripping with sexual innuendos? How about the time you sweared? How about turning away from God?

Have you ever thought about the day when someone comes up to you and asks "Do you love God?" and points a gun at your head. What would you react. The other day in the car, I was just thinking about how our government is starting to tighten their control over religious activities taking place in schools. And it just felt like one day, someone might point a gun at my head and kill me for being a Christian. But this is reality, guys. This kind of things are taking place in the world.

-I've digressed-

I was talking about following the world and being influenced by it. The world has changed by so much, and now the thin lines between right and wrong are smudged. We are no longer sure of what is right in God's eyes. PMS (pre-marital sex) is rampant, and so is abortion, affairs, porn, drugs, vulgarities, tattoos, blasphemy, and disobedience. But we always have to turn back to the bible.

25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. -Deuteronomy 6.

We proclaim God's words with our mouths, so we ought to turn back to Him. I want you to ponder in your hearts today. Ask yourself whether you have put God first in your lives. Whether you have listened to Him more than the advise of the world. Ask God to give you wisdom to perceive what is right or wrong.

Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

God loves you,
eunice

hearT

2009-08-16T21:09:00.001+08:00

Dear friends,

As we conclude the one-week prayer movement, hearT, let's make a commitment to pray consistently for the school. There may be no more event in the chapel for now, but don't stop seeking Him! Also, if God has revealed anything to you during the week, or if you had an epiphany or a realization, I urge you to write it down and ACT on it!

Let's not allow the weariness of the upcoming school week to overcome us, or the routine of moving from class to class every day make us apathetic and self-absorbed. May we be active hearers and doers of God's word, spurring each other on in love and humility :)

Reminder: Normal FireAC meetings will resume from tomorrow onwards! :D See you there.

2009-08-16T00:52:00.001+08:00

In Christian fellowship people should experience authenticity.

Authentic fellowship is not superficial, surface-level chit-chat. It's genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes gut-level sharing.

It happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives. They share their hurts, reveal their feelings, confess their failures, disclose their doubts, admit their fears, acknowledge their weaknesses, and ask for help and prayer.

Authenticity is the exact opposite of what you find in many churches. Instead of an atmosphere of honesty and humility, there is pretending, role-playing, politicking, superficial politeness, and shallow conversation. People wear masks, keep their guard up, and act as if everything is rosy in their lives. These attitudes are the death of real friendship.

It's only as we become open about our lives that we experience authentic fellowship. The Bible says, "If we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other...If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves" (1 John 1:7-8 NCV).

The world thinks intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says it happens in the light. We tend to use darkness to hide our hurts, faults, fears, failures, and flaws. But in the light, we bring them all out into the open and admit who we really are.

Of course, being authentic requires both courage and humility. It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection, and being hurt again.

Why would anyone take such a risk?

Because it's the only way to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy. The Bible says, "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed" (James 5:16 MSG).

What does it mean to be a child of God? =)

2009-08-13T19:06:00.003+08:00

If someone asked you now, 'Who are you?', what would you say?

Perhaps we might say our name, maybe even add our surname, or go "I'm so-and-so's son/daughter/brother/sister/cousin/friendetc."

And if that person asked again, 'But really, who are you?'

Other than thinking this person was rather nosy (haha), possibly this time we might elaborate to say "I'm a student of XYZ school/ member of XYZ church etcetc."

But have we ever considered ourselves, a child of God?

Do we know what it means to be a child of God?

Oftentimes what stops us from sharing the gospel, ministering, reaching out to others in our classes, homes, ccas... From doing something "so-called" radical for God, is the simple excuse; "I'm just a normal girl/guy trying to live a normal life."

"I'm not good enough"

"I don't know how to start"

"I just want to be a normal person like everyone else"

But where do all these perceptions come from?

From the narrow-minded, closed view of ourselves as being just 'the son/daughter of so-and-so' or 'a student of XYZ school'.

Let's start realizing what it means to be a child of God today. You're not just a student, not just any other normal teenager.

Rather, you're His precious child, His little warrior in this spiritual battle on earth (guerilla warfare if you might call it ;] ) against the evil one, working to win souls for Christ's kingdom. And where-ever you are, at home, in school, outside, that's just one of the battlegrounds our Heavenly Father has placed you in with a very special purpose and plan for your life.

So, start listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit today, that special 'inbuilt transceiver for battle commands' ;) It could be praying for a troubled friend today, or inviting someone to church, sharing the gospel with a non-believer, and even organizing a class prayer group! =)

Claim the victory in Christ today!

Keeping you all in prayer,

pet

2009-08-11T21:03:00.000+08:00

¹⁷When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. ¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. ¹⁹A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. ²⁰In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

Yes, these verses may not make much sense to you, but the background is not what I'm focusing on today. If you are interested in reading up, read Acts 19. These few verses are Acts 19:17-20.

You may wonder what God is trying to say from these verses. If I read this verses like last month, maybe I wouldn't have realised the importance. But see, they openly confessed their evil deeds (v.18) and some of them practiced sorcery (v.19). Sorcery is like black magic, evil. It's the opposite of what God is, God does not accept this kind of behaviour.

But again, this is not what I want to say. Maybe this might not have much connection to what the verses say, but I want all of you to remember today that God is forgiving God. Verse 18 said that many who believed came and openly declared their evil deeds. Not all accepted by God were righteous, none of them were in the first place. Moreover, EVIL deeds. Why is evil is emphasised?

I remember that day clearly in my head, the day I read this passage. And that night, I knew that God was a forgiving God, and if we just turned to Him, begging and asking for forgiveness, He will grant it. Because He loves us.

Take HearT

2009-08-11T15:02:00.004+08:00

hey guys, something I posted on my personal blog:

I’m stuck at home with diarrhoea/food poisoning, and I suppose it did come timely for me.

I don’t mean to be sick, but the whole entire process of purging really pointed out something to me. It’s been a long, long weekend, and many things I’ve come to realise that I need to purge from my heart, thoughts and mind.

"Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’ " Mark 7:15

Thank you, Lord, for setting your boundaries for us, protecting and guarding us in this manner, and for restricting me when You knew our human weaknesses.

Forgive me and us all for falling short of Your glory, and may You make us clean and pure once again.

It takes great faith in knowing that we have been forgiven, and I must say! nothing beats knowing that we have been saved by His everlasting grace and mercy (:

Take hearT, my dears, Take hearT.

national day!

2009-08-09T08:31:00.002+08:00

Hello brothers and sisters,

Firstly Happy National Day :D I'm not sure how many of you followed the 40-day fast for our nation (at www.lovesingapore.org.sg) but whether you did or not, I encourage you to set aside some time today, or this week, to pray especially for Singapore. Give thanks for the many blessings that we have as Singaporeans, bless our government and our leaders, cry out for the lost and pray earnestly for our generation which will eventually rise up to lead the nation. Ask the holy spirit to lead you; there is much to pray about.

As a side note, please feel free to utilize the prayer request box at the side :D

A lost generation

2009-08-09T00:20:00.003+08:00

Just a short post, nothing much to say.

Just recently, I have been bugged by a thought:

Does God compromise on His standards of holiness?

I don't know why but it keeps bugging me. These few weeks have been eye-opening; a time when I find out things about people, things I never expected from them. And now I wonder; how lost can our generation be?

I heard a sharing once in my church about the problem with our generation of Christianity. Rather than maintaining and upholding the standards of morality that God asks off of us when we live as Christians, we bring the standards down to our level instead so that we can be more comfortable living our lives that way WE want to. Does God compromise?

Since then I have been guilty of my failings to live a Holy life; times when I say, "It's ok God, just a bit won't hurt" or "It's ok God, I'm just trying to make friends here".

Are we any different from anyone?

Are we a light for others or a stumbling block?

Can people see Christ in us?

Oh God let us be, a generation that seeks, seeks Your face oh God of Jacob

What if... Today was your last day to live?

2009-08-04T18:31:00.003+08:00

As students, we often got so caught up with tomorrow. The mundane monotony of terms and semesters of school days, growing assignments, and the never-ending deadlines...

... can often delude us into thinking there will always be a next month, next week, next day.

The world deceives us that there will always be a tomorrow.

But what if

Today was your last day to live?

What if

Tomorrow was your friend's last day to live?

1 Thessalonians 5:2 'for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.'

Friends, let's not take every day for granted, and make every day count for God =) There is still much to do, people to be ministered to, friends and family who desperately need to know His love, and loved ones who need to be brought back to the path they have strayed from. So take that chance now, before it is lost forever.

'The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.' 1 Peter 4:7-10

Live every day for God as though it is your last! =)

Keeping you all in prayer,

<3,

Pet

One curse, One blessing

2009-07-31T09:28:00.002+08:00

Brothers and Sisters,

Shalom and God be with you. Carrying on with what has been said for the past week or so, I think it befitting to supplement what has been said, so as to minimize misconception.

The week encompasses messages that are less “fluffy” and acceptable than before. Frankly put, this is one of the seemingly harsher facets in our Christian faith. Often, the idea of complete submission to God, being nothing in comparison, and having Him to be of paramount importance: these ideas are not mentioned immediately upon evangelization. It is hard to convert someone by walking up to them and suggesting that their material life is meaningless, especially in ACS(I) whereby material desires and blessings are prevalent.

The messages said by Zhanfeng, Karlo and I placed respective emphases not taking God for granted. There exists many times whereby we forget who we are dealing with, who we are worshipping. Do not take God as a dispenser of blessings, as put by Karlo very well. Do not merely seek your will, but accept His will as your goal.

Having said so much, it is definitely not wrong to ask for blessings either. The Bible does mention that God is willing to hear our requests and pleas, and we acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter within the Holy Tripartite.

John 16:24 “Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” NIV

This is by no means a blank cheque from Heaven, nor an excuse to exhibit our inexorable covetous nature. It is nothing more than God justifying our right to make requests to Him.

We have to expect the right things when we ask God for blessings.

Many times I hear classmates, peers and church-mates praying, week after week, for their A levels, IB or whatever relevant curriculum. Consider our requests. If we pray to God for good results, is it more likely that He magically generates a 45-point diploma? Or is God more likely to show you the right way to get it, helping you progressively until you, in understanding and acceptance, realize that it is you who have achieved it with His will and guidance?

If we pray to God for stronger faith, does He encapsulate us with warm, fuzzy feelings and satiation, or does He open up more doors and avenues of service to show ourselves we are capable of such faith? If we pray for strength, does He fill us with steroidal supplements of a physical and mental nature? Or does He send us MORE chances to push ourselves, to show ourselves that we are strong?

A blessing does not have to look pleasant when it comes, it just has to come. God blesses us regardless if we ask for it, regardless if we expect it, regardless if we want it, regardless if we like it. Before continual prayer in demand, perhaps consider what God has already given.

Sometimes the bane of our existence is a message from God.

Keson

praying for the sick

2009-07-31T08:36:00.003+08:00

Hello!

If you look around you, I'm sure many of you will notice that class sizes are diminishing rapidly and that people are falling sick one by one; in fact, a few of our FireAC leaders have been hit with H1N1. Let's take this time to pray in faith for our friends. If your friend discovers suddenly that he/she isn't feeling well, take the opportunity to ask whether you can pray for him/her :)

"Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven." - James 5:14-15.

Let's also take this as a reminder to bring everything humbly to the Lord in prayer, that we will not be anxious about anything (Philippians 4:6). As the song goes:

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Lastly, don't be discouraged or disheartened if you feel like you aren't praying correctly or don't know what to pray about - Romans 8:26-27 says "And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will." Amen!

A resounding gong or a clanging cymbal?

2009-07-28T23:38:00.000+08:00

Hi friends! How has life been treating you? How have you been treating other people? Are you feeling that life’s not fair? Why me? How could I fail? Ahhh. Or, Man! I’m growing up so fast; stuck at crossroads, coursework, responsibility, help! But even as you go through certain phases of life, have you noticed how you’ve been treating others around you? I really doubt so. We humans are egocentric dumdums, so as long as what I get is the ‘fairest’ if not the ‘best’, we’re content. Even if we tread on some people, or tear them down with uncalled for words along the way. What I’m trying to say is, if the day’s going badly for us, we tend to be snappy, irritable and unloving to others, even to the point of doing it on purpose to ensure that his or her day becomes as bad as your own. Selfish-much.

Should we not instead constantly love our neighbours as ourselves? No matter what toils we have to face, we should trust everything to God, and simply be a loving generation.

1Cor13:1
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not LOVE, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

Hence, if our lives are devoid of love, our words, would also not be pleasant but instead be something cacophonous, disrupting the harmony of a loving relationship. Once we have the love in us, speaking the right words are the right time will come naturally, and God would guide or tongue such that no matter how unfair life seems to be, you would still love, be happy for each other. And the words that you speak, will be like sweet music that lifts people up.

In His Love
Zaccy

2009-07-25T09:38:00.003+08:00

Matthew 7

The Narrow and Wide Gates

¹³"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

A Tree and Its Fruit

¹⁵"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

²¹"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ²³Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

The Wise and Foolish Builders

²⁴"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

²⁸When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Elderly woman witnesses to man trying to rob her

2009-07-22T10:42:00.002+08:00

Hello all, just a two-minute video which will hopefully encourage us to witness to ALL of those around us - not just those we are comfortable with, or those whom we are sure of getting positive responses from. Enjoy :)

What kind of soil is your heart?

2009-07-19T16:47:00.005+08:00

Matthew 13:18-23

"Hear ye the parable of the sower.

When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

But he that received the seed in stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh fruitful.

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

What condition is the soil of your heart today?

Is it like the hard soil of the Palestinian dirt-paths, a heart that hears but does not truly understand; a heart trampled by the cynicism of the world? "Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord." (Hosea 10:12)

Or is it shallow like the thin soil over hard rock? The believer experiences an emotional response; The seed grows but its roots never go deep enough, and just as the sun can help the plant to draw water and nourishment from the soil, it can also test the believer's faith with the scorching heat of persecution. How strong is your faith lately?

Or perhaps it is a soil crowded with weeds, distractions and material desires? Some of the people in Jesus' time were too busy thinking about food, taxes, etc. What have you been allowing to crowd God out of your life today?

Or is it like the fertile soil, the heart that understands the Word (unlike the hard heart), receives the Word (unlike the shallow heart) and holds fast to it (unlike the crowded heart)?

The woman at the well; at first her heart was hard, for she felt that "the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans". Then her hard heart became a shallow heart, Christ offered her living water, but she replied, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw" (John 4:15). It was an emotional response with no depth. Some of us might have then seized the opportunity to then pray with her and share about the real Living water. But Jesus was patient, and he knew her heart was still crowded with other things, and immediately began to pull the weeds out, "Go, call thy husband!" Finally, the good seed planted years ago began to grow, "I know that Messiah is coming... when that One comes, He will declare all things to us" (John 4:25). Jesus then revealed who He was, she believed, and immediately began to bear fruit.

What condition is the soil of your heart today?

What fruit has come from your life recently?

Are you sowing the Word patiently, with discernment and wisdom?

Are you helping others bear fruit?

Bibliography:

Wiersbe, Warren. Meet Yourself in the Parables. SP Publications, 1979.

Let's continue to be certain our soil is plowed up, free from weeds, and ready to receive God's Word =)

On another note, here's an interesting video...

What if Starbucks Marketed Like A Church? A Parable.

An interesting, and perhaps rather insightful warning. Tell me what you guys think ^^

Have a blessed week ahead,

Pet

exams

2009-07-17T20:24:00.001+08:00

Dear friends,

As you all know, for the past week and in the next few days to come, we shall be faced with the unnerving ordeal of receiving our results and getting back our common test papers. Whatever the verdict may be, let's strive to honour and give thanks to our Father in heaven in every circumstance! It may seem a tall order, especially if you're being weighed down by tiresome emotions like disappointment, frustration, anxiety or even envy. But let us lift up all of this to the Lord :) Here are some verses of encouragement:

Psalm 107:1:

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Job 2:10:

He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Psalm 73:

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

Habakkuk 3:

17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

In love, Rachel miao.

The Grace of God in our lives.

2009-07-16T23:40:00.002+08:00

Dear brothers and sisters,

I want to thank everyone of you who continually read and mantain this blog for the glorification of our Father in heaven. Thank you for the time you spend writing, reading and I sincerely hope that you would be blessed indeed.

The GRACE of GOD.

So what is the Grace of God?

Grace used in the context of the bible means undeserved favour. How is this different from mercy? It seems that some do use it interchangebly but well, it all boils down to this, mercy refers to undeserved pardon, and grace, an extension of that, undeserved favour. Undeserved favour that God has promised to carry us through life, so that "[Man] may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

Favour that God will give to you not only in his sight but in man's just as Jesus "grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and Man." (Luke 2:52)

Let us not cease to remember the great amount of favour that God pours into our lives. Be it the teacher that favours you over others though you do nothing out of the ordinary. (I personally have had many of those encounters, even when I admittedly may not like the teacher at all). Moreover, let us claim this favour that God has bestowed upon us because we are now sons (and daughters) of God and as Christ in us is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27), the birthright to God's favour in our lives is opened to us.

With this birthright, the Grace of God in our lives, we have the promise that God will meet all our needs according to His glorious riches in glory. (Phillippians 4:19). Well some may twist and turn this to being the only reason for being a Christian, (some call it the prosperity gospel). Let us remember that this 'prosperity gospel' is also an important part of being a Christian (though not everything). As John ends with an exhortation saying "Beloved I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." (3 John 2) do and believe likewise.

Think of it this way, as a Father to child, spoiling and discipling him when the time is right, to make him more into his image each day. To allow his child to show the world how different he/she is, that God has made a difference in his/her life, that God has changed him/her, that God has brought him through all the trials and tribulations. This is the Grace of God.

Grace also happens to mean elegance in the beauty of movement and a sense of propreity and consideration for others. How apt, I feel, that Grace as an outward expression in our lives is just that. For people to see the beauty of our movement guided by Christ our Lord and our care for the people around us.

So let me encourage all of us not cease to remember the Grace of God in our lives, acknowledging His presence in every activity, every action and every little favour that people around us show us. Knowing well that through this, we are being transformed into his likeness more and more. People are always watching. Let your change by the Grace of God be a testimony to them and allow them to seek and find the ABSOLUTE TRUTH of all time, Jesus Christ.

Yours In Christ,

-Caleb

Who are you?

2009-07-12T21:53:00.000+08:00

"Are you a student who happens to be a Christian, or a Christian who happens to be a student?" This question was posed to me a couple of years ago, and on the spot I could only blink in response.

Our education system makes it difficult for school not to partially, if not totally, engulf our lives. The role of the school is no longer restricted to serving merely as an educational institution; everything from the development of our character to the pursuit of hobbies and extracurricular activities now also comes labelled in boxes within our timetables. 12-hour days are not uncommon, Saturdays in school are a regularity and spending the entire school holidays away from school is practically unheard of. My point: a very grand proportion of our time is spent in school or doing schoolwork, and I'm sure you will agree.

What tends to follow from this, unfortunately, is that we may start to think of ourselves as primarily students, then Christians. Attending FireAC becomes part of our routine as a student. Worship in chapel and morning devotions are part of our timetables. It often doesn't help that we feel continuously pressured to perform and to meet the expectations held of us as students. Consciously or (more often) not, our identity as a student whose primary aim is to secure our marks can easily override our identity as sons and daughters of Christ who strive to glorify God in even eating and drinking (1 Corinthians 10:31). We don't necessarily have to obliterate God from our lives for this to happen - instead, we might find ourselves treating God as a peripheral priority, slotting Him into what we mistake to be the grander scheme of things. Clearly, though, this is wrong - we are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5) and not "whatever is left after I'm done studying".

But what else am I supposed to do? You might ask. By no means am I suggesting that it would be correct to ignore our homework so that we may spend more time in worship. No, today I challenge us not to give God a little bit more of our time, but to offer Him all of our time. Let us aim to achieve what was commanded in 1 Thessalonians 5:17: Pray continually! And to acknowledge the Lord in every situation of our lives, to see every circumstance through a Christian perspective. To be Christians who happen to be students.

2009-07-11T16:53:00.002+08:00

Hebrews 12:11, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

The Lord's correction and discipline is given to everyone He loves, accepts, and cherishes in His heart. According to Ephesians 1:5, through Jesus Christ we are adopted as sons of God. Therefore, as His children we are entitled to His great love and His loving hand of discipline.

Admittedly, it took me some time to willingly submit to the correction and discipline of the Lord. At times, the process was painful and difficult, asking me to give up things I took pleasure in. When I obeyed though, I always saw a positive result. Two truths came to life: discipline is good, and discipline is necessary to help me become like Christ.

I felt His great love as God would tell me that i needed to put Him before facebook. Before, i always did my QT after my facebooking time. Sometimes, after going online, i get so tired, i decide to put off doing qt. But now, I have learnt, that my quiet time with God must always come before facebook. He taught me how things like that, would be in your best interest to break away from it." When I submitted to the discipline, I could see that He really loved me and wanted what was best for me.

The next time you need to accept discipline, remember the love of the Father who uses correction to shape you into the person He has designed you to be.

My parents have said this to me before. "scolding you and disciplining you hurts us so much more than it hurts you". I am sure many of you have heard this from your parents. I could never understand this as a child, after all, i was the one suffering and in pain. So many times, i asked God "why why why can't they just be lenient for once" and i realised one day that i would have turned out a really terrible person if my parents never scolded me, yelled at me when i was tiny. i would have all the wrong values incorporated in me and not knowing what was wrong/right. God speaks to us through our parents, disciplines us using our parents and thus, we should be eternally grateful to them for all the many scoldings that we've gotten because it would eventually mould us to become better people, shining for the glory of God.

Proverbs 10:17, "He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray."

So, take a chance today, to thank your parents as well as your heavenly Father for all the punishments they have meted out to you!

In the quiet

2009-07-10T00:20:00.003+08:00

How often do you listen to silence? Think of yourself walking to the bus stop: you are plugged into your iPod. Even if you're not, the sound of traffic is a constant, the chatter of your classmates, incessent. Think of yourself eating dinner: the television is on in the background, the clatter of your cutlery against the plate. Think of yourself right now: music blasting from the speakers, MSN 'badadums' (alert sounds) every 2 seconds, your fingers dancing across the keyboard, going TAK TAK TAK TAK. Every single day we are surrounded by all this noise. How do we expect to hear God's voice?

I always hear people asking the Lord for some sort of sign, praying that the Lord tell them what to do when the encounter a problem. My question would then be: are you listening?

If you are perpetually engulfed by all this background noise: traffic, chatter, television, music, how do you expect to be able to hear God? Even if he yells, His gentle voice be overwhelmed by your rocking music. It was only in the quiet when Abraham heard God calling out to him, and it will only be in the quiet when you will truly hear His voice.

So just be quiet for a while. I challenge you. Take a step back and listen to His voice.
Turn off the music playing in the background. Turn off the fan whirring behind you. Close the doors and bask in the silence.

1 KINGS 19:11-12, told of a time when the prophet Elijiah was told to "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. A great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper" And there the Lord was.

It is not in the huge, dramatic, overbearing things that the Lord resides, but in the stillness and quietness. Be silent and listen to God's calling. Because He IS talking to you and has been ever since you were born. Say, "Speak Lord for your servant is listening" and truly be LISTENING.

Be open to whatever God may suggest and remember that we are all His servants and we should go wherever He calls, but for us to hear His call, we must be in the quiet.

-Sandra

I promise

2009-07-08T22:23:00.003+08:00

Ok I promise to keep this short.

Lord I promised to pray
To do whatever you say
To read the bible everyday

Lord I promised to care
To tell my friends about you
To be an example for others to follow

Lord I promised to be the best Christian the world has ever seen
To never let you down
To do whatever necessary to enter the pearly gates

BUT
Lord I forgot.
I forgot You.

I forgot your taste,
your smell, your touch,
your love

I forgot how it was like to talk to you,
to hear your voice, to
laugh and find
peace
in you

I cannot remember
but I cannot forget

It eats me, bugs me, harasses me
but is that not the beauty of love?

That you will never leave me nor forsake me?

Its not what we do, but who we chase. Its not why because worship needs no reason. Its not when because worship needs no time.

Remember the song "with Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm?"

Let us be a child once more.

refiner's fire

2009-07-07T20:46:00.003+08:00

Just a short story I suddenly remembered having read two years ago :) Enjoy!

--

Malachi 3:3 "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy - when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

The source of our strength

2009-07-07T20:43:00.012+08:00

Greetings to you, my dear friends!

i would like to share 2 verses with you:

Isaiah 26:3-4
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever,
For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.

Yes, our God is the source of everlasting strength and perfect peace.
He is worthy of our fixed attention and abiding trust.

During this examination period, it is tempting and easy to compromise and neglect our quality time with God, but let us constantly remind ourselves to fix our minds on Him, to place our trust in Him, even as we focus on our studies, because only He can give us true peace and strength to overcome life's challenges.

* * * * * * * * * *

(: Don't these verses also remind you of the famous phrase, "the joy of the Lord is your strength", which subsequently reminds you of the secret of true joy: Jesus. Others. You?

Indeed we do not only study hard and excel in exams for our own sake, not merely for personal glory or brighter job prospects. We would like to do well for God's glory; to multiply the talents and resources He has generously bestowed upon us. We would also like to do well for others, such as loved ones who hope for the best in us, and also for the underprivileged ones in the world. There are millions of people who do not have access to proper education and are living in poverty while we enjoy high standard of living and world-class education. Hence, we must not waste our resources and talents, but must make full use of them and serve the underprivileged ones in the near future, just like what Jesus did.

May we find joy during this examination period as we elevate and expand our minds to stay on Christ and others.

May we also bring Heaven to Earth even as we try to get many people to Heaven from Earth.

Happy Youth Day! and Good Morning God =)

2009-07-06T01:38:00.002+08:00

Hey guys, well, good morning to ya! =)

Thank God for a wonderful new day yeah? And of course, new opportunities to spread His love where ever we go, in our homes, along the street, on the bus... =)

So just thought I'd share this song with you guys, perhaps it might be familiar to some... but nevertheless inspirational on how we can truly be God's angels amidst this earthly world =)

Angel In Disguise

I woke up this morning feeling kind of blue
and I stumbled out of bed
and dragged my feet across the room
Right outside my front door was a rose
and a note that said 'Somebody Loves You'

But out on the street it starts to pour
and before I get soaking wet,
A total stranger runs to give me
the jacket off his back
I turn around to thank him
But he waves me with a smile
I can hardly believe my eyes
He puts on a halo and starts to fly

Take a look at the ordinary
Don't need to look at Paradise
You could be next to
an angel in disguise

I met a good friend for lunch
and we had a delicious meal
But I forgot to bring my wallet
I felt like an imbecile
But she was sweet, she gave me a treat and
Bought me a chicken sandwich
To take home for tea

But out on the street with nothing to eat
A man and his shopping cart go
Travelling to places,
Collecting social graces
I give him my sandwich
and we chatter for a while
I see a rainbow wash over his eyes
He gives me his halo and
I start to fly

Take a look at the ordinary
Don't need to look for Paradise
You could be next to an angel in disguise

Don't try to hide away from me
I know you're by my side

Take a look at the ordinary
Don't need to look for Paradise
You could be next to
an angel in disguise
Everyday can be legendary
Every minute, an endless surprise
You could be the next angel in disguise

I woke up this morning
Feeling kind of new

God bless you all. Much <3,>

What Do We Sow?

2009-07-05T21:11:00.003+08:00

Hihi Friendlies!

Been busy? What a curse to be 21st century dwellers huh? Secondary dudes with all the coursework, catching up with school and much much other stuffs. IB fools trying to survive the Common Tests, IOP, IBDP exam revisions. EETOKIA! ahh.

But with our oh-so-hectic schedules, and absolutely no 'social-distancing', what have we but a multitude of opportunities and choices? Choices to do our best, or to be apathetic. Choices as to whom to do our best for.

Our generation has only two ways of living: Fast and Faster.
Honestly, when we zoom and whizz around our daily haunts, how often do we think about Christ? How often do we think about our purpose in life? Do we really remember that in everything we do, we should work at it with all our heart, as working for the Lord and not for man? Or do we just get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of task after task, only looking ahead far enough to see what is in front of us, only looking back far enough to see there is no backlog. Really what is the meaning of YOUR Life?

So, TWO things; What is your attitude to life? and Whom are you living for?

A farmer chooses what to sow. New grain or grain from the past harvests. He also chooses how to sow it, and the effort put in shows ultimately. We should learn from how a farmer puts his whole being into his work, sincerely giving his best.
When faced with a task, say a mega-huge physics project, how do we go about doing it? Grudgingly? To the best of your ability? "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." -Galatians 6:7.

Farmers farm crops, but who do these crops go to? To feed themselves and sate their gluttony? Or to some more noble cause, which glorifies God?
More importantly, whom are you living for? It's quite obvious is it not? Really? "The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." - Galatians 6:8. Exam-wise, we usually pray, 'Father Lord, grant us ... ... clarity of mind ... ... perseverence ... ... as we complete this exam not for our glory but for Your glorification. Amen.' Do we really mean it? Or are these becoming cliches, simply uttered for personal comfort? When we study, when we sit for the tests, how easy is it for us to look short-term, towards ourselves.

'Oh dear, I absolutely must do super well to top the class and look uber pro! but then I'd better pray, tell God that it's for Him. Maybe He wouldn't know.' God cannot be deceived.

So, we constantly have to check what we are sowing. Are we living today for ourselves? Are we being cheerful in everything, giving our all or are we simply lazy, slothful and apathetic to our responsibilities. Are we proud and boastful, doing our best for ourselves? Or are we humble, giving all glory to God and living completely for Him.

Plunging back into to hecticity of the 21st century, leaping from the solaceful springboard of this blog, we should always make the most of this life we have been given, giving our very best to our Father. What other purpose do we have in life except to glorify and live for that which is eternal? Let us also encourage each other, and hope in the Lord, letting Him be our strength, such that we can live for our God.

In His Love
Zaccy

we, the citizens of hypocricy

2009-07-04T21:57:00.002+08:00

I really hope that it has been a good evening for everybody, and yes, I am talking to you, whoever you are. I sincerely pray and hope that by God's words that I am typing out right now, He might touch your hearts.

So, this morning, I opened my Bible and for some supernatural reason, when I started reading the passage, I felt that I really wanted to share this. So, it was Romans 10:1-23. But I'm focusing on Romans 10:1-17. [If you would like to refer to the passage without opening the Bible, I've the passage at the bottom of this sharing]

We claim that we are fireAC and we serve as a group of young people, passionate for Christ. And we carry "this little light of mine" in this school, to set this school ablaze. But it all boils down to whether this is really our "heart's desire" [v.1]. As it was Paul's heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites that they maybe saved, shouldn't our hearts be filled for compassion for the unsaved around us. I want you to question yourself, just how many of your friends don't know God as their personal saviour? Maybe you, who stumbled upon this blog don't know Christ or God either.
As the Year fives sit down to settle what we see in fireAC, I would like to put this deep burning passion in the hearts of everyone, not just those who come for our morning sessions. Someone once told me that if you go out to share the gospel but you have no compassion for the unsaved, you'll be dragging your feet and afraid to share. Why are we so afraid?

Verse 9 says that if we confess with our mouth that "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you are saved. If we sincerely believe this, then why aren't we joyfully proclaiming the Gospel everywhere we go. If we have this joy in our heart, this belief, this hope and compassion, then take this moment to turn to your friend, and share the love. Or even better, turn your enemy and show the opposite of what he/she has been showing to you.

For EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord WILL be saved.

Have you ever questioned about what you don't know? Or have faith in something you have never heard of? Then how do you expect the remaining 68% [and growing] to suddenly wake up one day and proclaim Jesus as their saviour. Despite coming from a Mission school where we have chapel every week, devotion every morning and a large proportion of us going to church, I am positively sure that some people haven't actually let the gospel enter their system. Then why don't you take this time to turn to your friend, anyone, and spend just five minutes sharing why you believe in God.

For "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ".

On a side note, even though Christianity is probably the "largest" religion in the world with 32% of the about 6 billion people being Christians, it is definite that these numbers are dropping. Various reasons can include the fact that non-Christians see Christians as a bunch of hypocrites. Romans 1:32 says something along the lines of knowing what is right to do, yet doing the wrong thing. Personally, I feel that this is a very important problem in the lives of Young Christians. Because we read the Bible, or our youth leader tells us, we know what is wrong to do. We know that there is no such thing as grey area, but black or white. Yet we follow the ways of the world, giving in to swearing and cursing, cheating during examinations, lying, piracy and the list goes on.

If you have this compassion in your heart, I'm sure that with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can change and allow Christ to shine through us. For who knows where this rays of light might fall upon.

God Bless you. :D

Romans 10

¹Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ²For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. ⁴Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

⁵Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them."^a]">[a] ⁶But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'^b]">[b]" (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷"or 'Who will descend into the deep?'^c]">[c]" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,"^d]">[d] that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: ⁹That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ¹¹As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."^e]">[e] ¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."^f]">[f]

¹⁴How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"^g]">[g]

¹⁶But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"^h]">[h] ¹⁷Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

In the Faith of Jesus Christ,
Eunice Wong

Of Lies, Tries and the Many Cries

2009-07-04T16:30:00.003+08:00

Howdy all my brothers & sisters out there!

You might actually wonder why I titled this post to be "Of Lies, Tries and the Many Cries", or even think that this might be something new to what you have been reading. Well, I hope that after you read this post, you will stop to think and reflect for a moment or two. :)

It is a little more than half a year in school - time really past quickly eh! Soon, before you know it, you will be sitting for your year-end examinations, the O-Levels, the much-talked-about IB exams or even getting confirmation that you have been accepted into IP/IB via DSA and such. Yes, academics are part and parcel of our lives and important to certain extent.

Before we move on to the adulthood or working lives, let us consider our post-primary school and pre-20-years-old years. Many a times, it is during this 6 to 8-year window period where teenagers nowadays face the most difficult and trying times of their lives. Hurt, grief, emo-ness (definitely in this new generation) and all sorts of other internal and external conflicts - you name it, others will most probably hear about it.

Sometimes, have we stopped to ask our friends how they are doing? Are they coping well with their studies? Or do we really tend to forget some friends at times, especially when we're doing well and just neglect all the good times that we shared in the past? Self-delusion and lies are sometimes the blanket excuses that we use for such situations, and then we move ahead and never look back.

In times like this, during this phase of economic downturn and flu pandemic, it is not unusual to see people having tendencies to be more careful about everything, from buying new things, right down to talking on the phone; taking extra effort not t0 cross the limit. Whilst these are good practices, it seems like we pay attention to things that are more superficial. God placed others above Himself, giving others a chance like how He saved the prostitute who was about to be stoned and said;

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" John 8:7

He hears the many cries of our hearts and seeks to understand our problems, so, we too can do little things that change people's negative perspective of the world. Because, just imagine this - many small little good deeds we do in our entire life will add up to quite a bit and similarly, many small little bad things we do will also add up to a significant amount. So, should we let the wrongs outweigh the rights, or the weighing scale tip to the opposite direction? You decide.

With less than half the year left, or looking from a broader view, many years ahead of you, remember to make good decisions and not regret in the near future. Take some moments to ponder over this post; think it through over a cuppa coffee or whichever makes you comfortable. :)

With that, I would like to wish you all a wonderful week ahead and for our IB brothers and sisters, not to stress out over this examination period, but look to the Lord when in doubt. Finally, I would also like to end off with a portion of an inspirational song;

"Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I'm on
Jesus take the wheel"

Jesus, Take The Wheel
by Carrie Underwood
from "Some Hearts" (2005)

GOD BLESS YOU!

In His name,
Michael Ong

God is faithful!

2009-07-01T08:32:00.005+08:00

Hello brothers and sisters :) Just one verse I thought I'd share:

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

A dear friend of mine wrote this verse out for me quite a while ago and it blessed me greatly as a timely reminder of God's sovereignty, faithfulness and love. If you've been feeling weary lately, or have been struggling with what appears to be an endless battle against temptation, I hope you will be uplifted by God's promise here :) Truly, His love endures forever (Psalm 136)!

In love, Rachel miao

THERE IS HOPE!

2009-06-29T20:54:00.000+08:00

There is HOPE, HOPE that we have IN CHRIST, SECURES us IN the SHELTER of THE MOST HIGH.

Psalm 91

¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

² I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."

³ Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.

⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,

⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.

⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹ If you make the Most High your dwelling
even the LORD, who is my refuge-

¹⁰ then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;

¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

¹³ You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

¹⁴ "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

¹⁵ He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."

Let this encouragement from the Psalms be upon you today, as you trust in Him in this crisis. Some of us may have known friends and family members who may have come down with sickness and it is true that fear only comes when the virus comes so near as to infect your friends and family, hence, I pray that you will hold fast to His promise here, both for yourselves and others around you. HAVE FAITH, and FAITH will help you to PERSEVERE through this time of crisis.

HIS and I.H.S.

Caleb

School and H1N1

2009-06-29T16:55:00.005+08:00

Hey Guys!

So, how was the first day of school like for you guys?
Anyways, just want to tell you guys that due to the H1N1 virus, FireAC is cancelled until clearance is given again. ):
If you have time to spare, please pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ, the other schoolmates who have been quarantined ( as well as fireAC members who have been quarantined- namely, Caleb and Petrina) and the teachers in school who are making so much effort to ensure that the sickness doesn't spread.
Also, pray for those who have exams tomorrow.

Meanwhile, continue to pray and trust in the Lord.
Cheers! :)

The exams will be fine! ONWARD!

The Role of each Fruit of the Spirit

2009-06-28T20:15:00.003+08:00

Often times, we hear how Love is the Greatest of them all (1 Corinthians 13:13). We see how it is always placed before the "fruits of the spirit" as we call it. But we see that in Galatians 5:22, it is the singular usage of the word "fruit".

What does this tell us about the Love? The love that God is shared abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit? It encompasses everything. I'm timely reminded of the Beatle's song "All you need is Love", well how true it is! Many things people do for Love, the Bible tells us that "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."- John 15:13

The Father has given up His Son for us, so like him, let the things that we do, the reason we live be Love. Loving our father in heaven in relationship, may our lives fulfill the call to be sons [and daughters] (Romans 8:15), above all else. In that love will we glorify him in joy, a joy in service and worship to Him. Knowing well that His arms are open wide, waiting for us to dwell in Him.

"Love requires a relationship personally between you and the father on a continuing, ongoing basis.

Joy is Love's Strength

Peace is Love's Security

Patience is Love's Endurance

Kindness is Love's Conduct

Goodness is Love's Character

Faithfulness is Love's Confidence

Gentleness is Love's Humility

Self-Control is Love's Victory"

(Ron DePriest. The Spiritual Mentor. Destiny Image Publishers, Incorporated. 2005.)

Let us learn more about our Father in Heaven, Loving Him more each day, glorifying Him in our relationship with Him today!

As a son in his Father's Service,

-Caleb

term three/studying

2009-06-24T17:35:00.004+08:00

Hello ACSians! I'm sure that you've all recently heard about the verdict regarding the reopening of schools. With the CTs looming ahead and all for the year fives and sixes, perhaps you feel like you've lost precious time you were confident of being granted to prepare for the exams. However, I'd like to challenge all of us to respond with attitudes and actions pleasing to God by not having a grumbling spirit but a trusting and cheerful one, like as described in Philippians 2:14 :) Also, let's take the opportunity during this especially anxiety-laden period of time to share the love and peace of our heavenly father with our friends, classmates and teachers.

Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

So brothers and sisters, do press on in your mugging/cramming, and take care not to fall into the traps of slothfulness or idolatry! If you've been undisciplined or unable to get down to studying, know that God sees laziness is a sin. And if you find yourself getting distracted you could study in a group, also taking the chance to pray with each other! At the other end of the spectrum, if you've been letting your studies assume a greater importance in your life than what is desirable, perhaps it's time to reflect and pray.

Whatever we do, our studies should be an avenue through which God can be glorified.. Yet so often we see this principle being applied in reverse (thinking of God as a means to help me study better). As we come to the end of the June holidays, I pray that we will return to school next week not haggard and burdened, but refreshed and with hearts on fire for God, desiring His glory :D

--

By the way, those of you who'd like to post anything on this blog, you can contact me :) I will try and figure out how to put my email on the right.

In love, rachel miao

2009-06-21T22:10:00.004+08:00

Reflector- Planet Shakers
Since i've found your love
I've never needed anything to fill my heart
Even when i fall
You're always there with open arms to pick me up
From the start i knew
No one else could make me feel the way you do
Everyday i want to grow
Just a little bit closer, just a little bit closer

I want to be a reflector
I want to shine with your glory
I want to let the whole world know that you're
Living in me

I want to burn with your fire
Shine my light a little brighter
I want to let the whole world know that
Jesus Lives in me

This song contains so many messages for us, as God's children. Well, when i listened to the song, the first thing that struck me was that we should be actively going out and minstering to others. I've realised that i am quite a passive Christian. If anyone asks me whether i am a Christian, i would say yes and that would be the end of the conversation. A perfect opportunity to speak to others about my faith and my beliefs has just been wasted.

I've been praying about this and the roundabout evangelism is really a great platform for us to reach out to others who have their doubts about christianity but don't know who to approach. I'm sure in acsi, everyone knows about God from the weekly chapel services but not everyone has a personal and intimate relationship with Him. So, let's prepare our hearts and go forth and spread the word of God with all our brothers and sisters in school(: and show everyone what a difference it makes with when Jesus lives in [us]! Let's all strive to be shining examples of His children (:

even to your close friends, who are skeptical and ask you many questions, try not to start getting defensive. Instead, answer their questions with love as Christ would. If ministering to them fails once, don't be afraid to try again (: Let's look on the positive side. At least they're willing to ask questions and that's the very first step to getting to know Christ.

1 Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." (NIV)

with love,
liana

2009-06-17T00:48:00.002+08:00

GIVE US CLEAN HANDS :)

We bow our hearts
We bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes
From evil things
Oh Lord we cast down our idols

So give us clean hands
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh give us clean hands
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another

Oh God let this be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face,
Oh God of Jacob

Oh God let us be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face,
Oh God of Jacob

We bow our hearts
We bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble

We turn our eyes
From evil things
Oh Lord we cast down our idols

So give us clean hands
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands--Oh God
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another

i really love this song so much cos the lyrics are so meaningful to me :)
Today, God really wants us to have clean hands annd pure hearts that are after Jesus. hearts that are not corrupted; hearts that crave for pure spiritual milk. He wants us to be clean asnd free from our sins which make us rlly dirty.

God wants us to SEEK HIS FACE in ALL that we do!! that means put God first all th time-->put God in the centre of everything cos when God's in the centre of our lives, everything else will then fall into place :) let's try doing tt tgt yes?

lotsa love,
Charmaine

You are Here (The Same Power)

2009-06-15T18:44:00.002+08:00

While listening to some of the songs that I knew well, I stumbled onto this song by Hillsong,

You are Here (The Same Power)

There is a love that I know
A strength for the weak and the broken heart
My Shepherd and King
I find You within me
For you are here
My Lord forever
You are here

You carried the cross for the world
Gathered the lost and the fatherless
My Shepherd and King
I find You within me
For You are here
My Lord forever
You are here

In this place, you are here
By Your mercy, I draw near
In my heart, take your place
You are here

Your word is the light of the earth
Your glory resounds in the universe
My Shepherd and King
I find You within me
For You are here
My Lord forever
You are here

The same power that conquered the grave
Lives in me, Lives in me
Your love that rescued the earth
Lives in me, lives in me

Always remembering that the same power that lives in us has conquered the grave, has conquered sin. Let us not fear anything but God.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. - 2 Timothy 1:7

and with that:

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. - Philippians 4:13

Go forth in Faith that HE will help you conquer temptation and that the victory is already won!

HE LIVES IN YOU!

-Caleb

John 3:30 "He must increase, I must decrease"

2009-06-12T20:47:00.005+08:00

One thing that I've learned in the past few months: God becoming more prominent in our lives happens in proportion to us becoming less important. Meaning that one doesn't occur without the other; if God is to occupy a larger part of our lives, we necessarily have to occupy a smaller part. And vice versa: If we start to take more control of our lives, to magnify ourselves instead of God, then God's role is accordingly diminished. What exactly does magnifying ourselves mean, though?

Magnifying ourselves can make us either proud or anxious, but both are born out of deception. To be proud is to buy the lie that we can impact our own lives more effectively than God can; in other words, it is to trust ourselves more than we trust God. We then catch ourselves saying things like "I guess all we can do is pray", as if prayer were a last resort to fall back on when all else has been exhausted instead of a powerful weapon. Or we let our relationship with God become centered on our own needs - as if God were our servant - and we seem more intent on whining than on humbly seeking God's guidance. To be anxious is to deny God's power in our lives, for we are told that God is love, and there is no fear in love (1 John 3:18). But friends, amidst a bleak generation of self-indulgent and godless emo-ing, we are called not to conform but to turn our eyes away from ourselves and our anxieties and to fix them upon Jesus' beautiful face.

God longs to and is waiting to bless us more abundantly that we could ever imagine, but first we need to let Him! Somtimes, God is unable to work in our lives simply because we refuse to make any room at all for Him. If He is to increase, we must first of all must decrease. How? Well, since the process of magnifying ourselves consists of a confidence in man and a complete lack of trust in God, the process of magnifying God is simply the opposite!

Jeremiah 17:5-8

5 Cursed is the one who trusts in man; who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the Lord

6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

7 But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.
whose confidence is in him.

8 He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit

So I encourage all of us to examine our lives carefully. Let's come before the Lord and ask Him to search our hearts (Psalm 139:23) - are there areas of our lives where we are refusing to let go: academics, a particular relationship, ungodly desires? If so, let us humbly repent. And as we start the second half of the June holidays, do continue to keep each other in prayer. May we be men and women who place their confidence firmly in the Lord!

Give Thanks

2009-06-09T19:43:00.001+08:00

The Psalmists namely, David, the Korahites, Asaph and many others usual tell us of their personal encounters with God, with some full of thanks and others just their experiences of crying out to him. We can read it to learn of the many blessings we often neglect and also as an encouragement that "we're all in this together" and "i've felt it before, I've overcome it, so shall you".

For now, I believe that one of the things to keep our eyes focus on the Lord is to count the many blessings, essentially, giving thanks. An example of the things that we can be thankful for is seen below in Psalms 136.

Psalms 136

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.

² Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.

³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.

⁴ to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.

⁵ who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.

⁶ who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.

⁷ who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.

⁸ the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.

⁹ the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.

¹⁰ to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.

¹¹ and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures forever.

¹² with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures forever.

¹³ to him who divided the Red Sea ^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} asunder
His love endures forever.

¹⁴ and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.

¹⁵ but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.

¹⁶ to him who led his people through the desert,
His love endures forever.

¹⁷ who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.

¹⁸ and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.

¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures forever.

²⁰ and Og king of Bashan—
His love endures forever.

²¹ and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures forever.

²² an inheritance to his servant Israel;
His love endures forever.

²³ to the One who remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.

²⁴ and freed us from our enemies,
His love endures forever.

²⁵ and who gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.

²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever.

So Give thanks! Remain faithful to the Lord (2 Timothy 1).

In the Faith of Jesus Christ,
Caleb

Who are our friends? =)

2009-06-07T19:22:00.010+08:00

As we take this time during the holidays to relax, recharge and chill with friends and family, lets ask ourselves as well, "Who are our friends?"

Well, the friends we have says alot about us and the person that we are. In this life, we go through looking for that 'best friend', that lifetime companion, someone who genuinely cares about us, someone whom we have no fear opening up our deepest and darkest secrets to, someone who's there through the good and bad times... Someone who loves us unconditionally. But often a true friend seems so hard to find, and the pain of disappointment and betrayal is one familiar to us all. I remember a (maybe-not-so-)funny analogy, 'A false friend is like your shadow, he comes out when the sun is shining, but disappears once you step into the shade.' ^^"

But over the years I've found the one true friend who has always been by my side, even before my first breath and thought. And that's Jesus Christ =) He's the only one that can fill all our emotional needs, even in the lowest of times when we feel we don't measure up, or can't compare to others, or just feeling plain lousy about ourselves. He comforts us all those times when we're hurt that no one seems to have noticed our efforts or contributions, and He's there right through our struggles with sins and temptations. Truly, we love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

And because of that, we can give of ourselves so freely to others, in extending a helping hand, giving words of encouragement, and sharing the gospel, even when we don't feel like it, even when there doesn't seem to be any benefit in it for us, even when the person is so unlovable. That, I've found, is the one thing that can keep us going on, no matter the hardships and trials we face in our personal ministry.

True friends always keep giving, and never demanding of us. True friends are never exclusive or selfish, but instead liberate us to be the best we can be, liberate us to share that love and friendship with all around us; true friendship is always growing. Once we know and love the Greatest Friend of all, Jesus Christ, it's hard not to want to share this wonderful friend with all our friends. I've found not being able to share Christ with my friends, has become akin to not be able to share about my life at all =)

Jesus Christ has often been called a 'friend of the sinners'. No, it was not the teachers of the law, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the high-up clergymen whom Jesus dined with during His time on earth, rather it was the lepers, the tax-collectors, the prostitutes, the unwanted and unloved in society that He turned his attention to. I can imagine whom in today's society Jesus would have dined with, would have been friends with: the oddballs in our class, the school cleaners, our maids at home, the foreign workers, the AIDS victims, the prostitutes, the mentally disabled, the physically handicapped... And on the political scale, who knows, perhaps even the North Korean leaders, the Middle-east insurgents...

So my brothers and sisters, lets truly be the church of God, friends of Jesus Christ, friends to the world =)

God bless,

Pet

Keep our eyes on what is ETERNAL

2009-06-05T22:52:00.003+08:00

Was supposed to actually post this earlier, but here goes!

I was reminded of one of the main paradoxes of life today, our humanly tendency to classify things to "Being a means to an end, or an end in itself".

Being in IB and all, we all work toward it as if it's a final end, but later to find it's just another stepping stone to university. From University we realise, yet again another stepping stone to work. So is work an end in itself? In another way, we look for prospective people to become our soulmates, we marry them, and is that yet an end in itself? We have children, is that an end in itself? The cycle goes on, and yet again, we come to the end of the cycle (or so we think) death, what now?

Paul constantly uses the imagery of a race, likening it to the lives we live. He is seen to say ²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me (Acts 20:24). He talks about things that we should be doing, things that should basically govern the purpose of our lives. Things that we should strive toward to make it a worthy means to the final end, the end of eternity with Christ.

Paul then constantly talks about counting all things as lost and having lost all things for the sake of Christ. So in a sense what does this all mean?

Many of the things mentioned above may seem to be important, but in the end, they all fall short "Compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord". Philippians 3:8

In his final exhortations to the Philippians, Paul tells everyone to think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. To Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. What does this mean? "Fulfilling the task of testifying to the gospel of God's Grace" - Acts 20:24b.

So how would we do this in our daily lives? Let me encourage all of us to continue reaching out to the people around us, to be living testaments of his Grace in our lives. Where people can see a heart of worship in us. To be people who are seen to do our best in everything, setting a good example in our studies, deadlines, friendships, relationships, quiet time and even those lil times when we think we aren't being watched. To put CHRIST first in everything, not after studies (although we know bad results are a bad example), not to stumble one another by compromising on our values (during the tough times). To serve our best in what we have committed to in ministry or in school or anywhere else likewise. In that fulfilling the passive testament of the gospel of God's grace.

In the same way, serving in ministries (personal or corporate or otherwise) to reach out in an active way. To feed the hungry, clothe the poor and tend to the sick, in that sharing the love of Christ with the rest of the world. To actively share this Gospel (great and good news) to everyone, ceasing every opportuninty, in that, fulfilling the active testament of the gospel of God's grace.

Many of us as Christians may know this, I myself know this very well, but in the end, to apply it to our lives, one must make whatever head-knowledge this is into heart-knowledge. It is my sincere hope that through the empowerment of the holy spirit as well as our personal choice, that we will continue to meditate upon the word of God and continue in faith in this race.. To set our minds on things above, keeping our eyes on what is eternal.

Good Dae Mates!

-Leb

Jeremiah 29:13

2009-06-03T19:16:00.003+08:00

haha I noticed it's been a while since the last post, so here goes =) and don't worry it'll be short >< promise ="D?

It just struck me how easy it is to just let QT slip by for one day, and then for another day, and the next.. Especially during the holidays. And frighteningly, life goes on. Each day passes like any other day... How easy it is to feel as though we don't need God, that we can just do it all on our own. And often that's what the devil wants us to think, tempting us with the control over our own destiny, just as Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden of Eden.

The drone of life sets in. But soon so does the emptiness as well. And in those fleeting moments throughout the day, suddenly you remember a time, when not too long ago, or perhaps a little too long ago, you basked in His presence and His love, relishing a moment of such deep peace and inner joy. Perhaps it was that time when you stepped into church and felt your spirits surge during worship, or maybe that night when you knelt in prayer, filled with desperation and longing... And He answered, ever so gently, ever so indulgently.

And in that moment, we remember who and what we were made for.

So I urge you, my brothers and sisters, wherever your walk with God is right now, remember that time when you felt His love and experienced the peace only He can give. Let that moment keep you going on in your QT everyday, that moment of drawing close to the Father and resting at His feet, just as Mary did. And if you're still waiting for that moment; let me leave you with these wise words from the book of Life, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek with me with all your heart, I will be found by you," declares the Lord (Jeremiah 29:13-4).

Don't let the holidays slip by! =)

God bless,

Petrina

He's always behind the scenes

2009-05-24T09:25:00.002+08:00

to my brothers and sisters in Christ,

i read dear pet's previous post, and realise that lately, i've also been experiencing the same spiritual low. my quiet times seem to perpetually end with my head laying hopelessly on my pillow, softly uttering: "Where are you God?"

i've no particular verse to share, and i'll keep this short (because i'm stuck in army anyway and there's not much time left!). God really taught me a lesson on intimacy with Him today.

intimacy with God doesn't necessarily mean that you'll always feel emotionally and spiritually engaged. in any relationship, there will always be ups and downs. those are alright - during the spiritual highs you feel fully refreshed and ready, during the spiritual lows God stands up for you and you break out in praise. But the problem is with those spiritual 'level grounds', where there's just everyday life, there's nothing particularly exciting.

sometimes God moves in a way that's truly fascinating and awe-inspiring: He leads your friend to believe in Him, or He intervenes miraculously. But most of the time for people like myself (and perhaps you), it's not like that.

day by day, i've learned to realise, that we should also see God in the background - behind the scenes.

last week, while i was confined in army camp, i decided to help my friend to wash his muddy field pack. We all had to wash our field packs so as to pass the imminent inspection by the instructors. My friend had booked out for the week, but I was still in camp, so I decided to give of myself through an act of service. So his field pack was cleaned. But for the entire week, it's as if he never realised - he's never said anything to me, no word of thanks whatsoever, maybe he never even noticed the difference.

Well, i'm not in it for the gratitude. But i think God used this simple example in my life to illustrate to me an important point - God Himself helps us to do many things that we may not even notice or give Him thanks for.

paratroopers need to pack their parachutes. God is the one who packs the parachutes for us - so that when we fall, we have someone to rely on. God is the one who shields us from many spiritual attacks each and every day - it's just that even before we meet the adversary, he has already been severly wounded, or perhaps defeated, by our Father in heaven. God ensures that the temptations that we meet each day are not too difficult for us (1 Cor 10:13).

He's there, behind the scenes, providing for you.
He's there, in the front line, taking down enemies before you meet them.

So instead of praying 'God where are you?"
i prayed for once.
'thanks God, for doing many things which i do not notice each day.
please open my eyes to the things that you do (: "

in Christ name,
amen

Psalms 13 How long, O Lord?

2009-05-22T17:07:00.003+08:00

Isaiah 6: 1-11

"Woe to me!" I cried, "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

He said, "Go and tell this people,

Be ever hearing, but never understanding,

be ever seeing, but never perceiving.

Make the heart of this people calloused,

make their ears dull,

and close their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears.

understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed."

Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"

And he answered,

"Until the cities lie ruined

and without inhabitant

until the houses are left deserted

and the fields ruined and ravaged."

Lately I have been wondering why God seems to be so far away. Everyday has been a monotonous drone of school work, activities etc. and though I've continued to do QT, it just feels as though all I am doing is just going through the motions.

And as I knelt down today before the Lord, bringing before Him a whole host of worries, anxieties, requests, frustrations, pleading... Suddenly I just felt so weary. I had been praying for comfort and strength, but my faith seemed to be a mere flicker of flame amidst all the dark, looming 'giants' in life. My heart and mind was in turmoil, but then I turned to Isaiah 6, next on my reading chapter for the day for the Old Testament.

In the presence of the Almighty God, even Isaiah, a holy, righteous prophet of God, was humbled, realizing that He was 'a man of unclean lips'. The angel of the Lord then came with a piece of hot coal, and scalding his lips, told Isaiah, "your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for". When Isaiah came into the Lord's presence, all the troubles and worries were instantly forgotten, his entire person was stripped bare into utter dependence upon the Lord, his life and his salvation.

What are we like when we come before the Lord? I've realized lately, that in facing all the obstacles and 'giants' in both my school, home and spiritual life, I've been coming to the Lord with a host of requests, asking Him for strength, comfort, peace... and all the while focusing on everything and anything, but Him.

Why is God silent with us sometimes? Often, in the flurry of distractions and worries, we may tend to rush headlong into everything, only then at the end of the day coming into prayer before the Lord, asking Him to make it right again... but never asking Him about the right thing to do, what He wants us to do. I've suddenly started to realize the many countless instances throughout this week when I've put work first, put my pride first, put friends (yes even friends) first, before God. Those countless times when I could have stopped to say a quick prayer with a friend, or minister to those dear brothers and sisters of mine waiting at the roundabout, lonely and wrapped up in their own worlds. Or that time when I wanted to share a bible verse with a sister, then hesitated, thinking maybe now isn't the time, or she'll think I'm being strange...

Then I realized that all this while, God has been trying to speak to me, but I haven't been listening. And so I decided to write this today, my dear brothers and sisters, to urge you and to warn you, with love.

Are we focusing too much on the giants all around us, coming to the Lord with a whole shopping list of requests, deceiving ourselves with the comfort of lies? Or will we be like Isaiah, humbled, silent, and obedient before the Lord, realizing that our lives are utterly dependent upon Him?

Let us learn to be silent before the Lord. Let's stop focusing on all the troubles of this world, but instead just simply say, "Here am I. Send me!" And it will be a long, arduous journey ahead; the road will not be easy. But I promise you, brothers and sisters, there will be much joy - no, not happiness, for she is a fickle mistress - but true joy, that loving, loyal and everlasting companion. And for how long? "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged."

I once read, "What does it mean to live as a child of God, to be a witness? It simply means to live in such a way that one's life would not make sense if God didn't exist."

If God didn't exist, would our lives of schoolwork, assignments, CCAs still make sense? God's Word isn't just a medicine for healing our hurting bodies in this ravaged world, His Word makes new our bodies, changing our lives, making these hurting bodies whole and beautiful again. Being a witness doesn't mean we start engaging in propaganda to convert people, stirring up movements of hatred and violence. Rather, it starts with that simple act of childlike faith, placing our hand in His and letting Him lead the way.

I'm sorry Lord, for not hearing your voice. Teach me to be silent. Teach me to truly put you first and place my life in your hands, forever.

- Petrina

Psalms 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, O Lord my God,

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"

and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

How I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord,

for he has been good to me.

Giants in our lives? Overcome them in Jesus Name!

2009-05-20T21:24:00.003+08:00

Thoughts for the day:

John 16:33
Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

1 John 5:5
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 4:4
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

1 John 2:14
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Revelation 12:11
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

Reflect on the promises on God, declare them real in your life. Let them enrich you, so you may enrich others, with the promises that only HE can give.

Reach out and touch others, win one more for Christ today!

Your fellow labourer in Christ,

-Caleb

Trust & Hope!

2009-05-15T00:49:00.001+08:00

Thought for the day:

The Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.(Psalms 32:10b) Therefore, Be Strong & Take heart, all you who hope in the Lord! (Psalms 31:24)

Cheers,

Caleb

Not that "committed"?

2009-05-14T19:08:00.004+08:00

Overtime, whenever I've met someone and asked if they were christians, more often than not they would reply "Yes, er, but not that committed."

Why do so many people feel that way sometimes, even christians? Believing for the sake of believe, and what more, they do realize that themselves, but remain trapped in that rut, unable to lift themselves out of it, either out of fear, doubt or just indifference. But who I am to criticize, for over a year ago, I too felt that same way. Like a lukewarm glass of water, warmed on Sundays, but rapidly cooled by the winds of doubt (Okay, bad analogy haha). (But it has been a long journey since, but nevertheless, entirely worth it ^^)

But what troubles me now, is how, as christians, can we reach out to these brothers and sisters? That used to be one of the things that kept me from evangelizing, and even now, now and then even I am unable to answer some of the questions non-christians and christians alike have posed to me.

Still yet I wonder, what do we mean when we say, "I'm not that committed."? Is christianity a commitment? Somehow, I just can't help but feel that by considering it so, it portrays christianity like some sort of political cause, one that is pursued for some benefit or gain, or a deadweight that ties one down. Is it wrong to seek God because we don't want to end up in hell?

Yet, at any one time, has man ever searched for God with truly pure and good motives? We are still only human after all, but in the end, I believe that in our search for God, when we truly begin to know and understand Him, and let Him work in our lives, all these doubts and fears will just melt away once we focus on Him alone, and then salvation and heaven won't be a 'perk', but rather a source of hope, the one and only thing we live for, to come to this dwelling place with our Father for eternity, where there will be no more strivings, no more pain, no more tears.

Still, why is it so hard to hear God's voice? The everyday things of life, schoolwork, exams, friendships, the little annoyances, seem to fill up our lives already, and there seems to be no space for God, or even any need for Him. Then there are those moments, in church or in prayer, where we suddenly just feel His presence. But then the moment is gone, real life sets back in again, and we become reminded how hard it is to seek God, to focus on Him when there's so much going on in life already, and He seem so faraway and elusive, too 'high up' for this world. Or even, looking at the lives of OT prophets and the NT apostles, how absurd and irrational being a so-called 'strong' christian would be in society today.

But what are we looking for exactly? Does being a christian mean searching for something much higher up, becoming some uber-holy, supernatural being, denying all the things in life? Religious ascetics advocating such a lifestyle of abstaining and purging. Is this for all christians as well?

I struggled with this at first too, wondering what it meant to take up the cross, struggling to find a balance, wondering why Christianity had to be so hard, why this so-called God's love seemed so hard to live with. But now looking back, I think many of us are looking for God in the wrong places, even in christianity itself, or have misconceptions about it. God isn't some beyond this world, faraway authority that condemns us to death just because we don't believe in Him. Through history, through the ages, He's been reaching out to us, calling us back to His side. Why didn't he then save the trouble, and just make us wired to worship Him? But as one of my brothers in the ministry once shared with me, the ultimate sign of God's greatest love for us is our freedom of choice. And there's no denying that hell exists. As abstract and conceptual as it sounds, there is only good and bad in this world, there is no middle ground. But back to the point, let's stop looking for God in 'high-up' lofty practices, but let's realize that the first place we can look, is within ourselves, because the Holy Spirit resides in us. He is already living in us, the minute we believe that and let Him in, and He is there now, speaking to us in our thoughts, prompting us as our conscience, the comforting warmth in our hearts. From here the journey starts... =)

And if it still seems so hard to believe, to know that He is there, that we aren't just deluding ourselves, remember Jeremiah 29:13-14.

"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord. "I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, " declares the Lord, "and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."

Are we seeking God with all our heart? When we do so, He assures us that we will find Him, and not only that, He will draw us close to Him, and give us a hope and a future. And does this future mean giving up everything we have now? Yes, the Lord takes away, but remember the words of the song, "He gives and takes away"? When we give it up to Him, we're acknowledging that it all belongs to the Lord, we're laying it before His feet, not throwing it behind us and then coming to Him. And really taking up the cross, isn't in giving up the material things of life, although yes it can translate into that, but rather it's a change from within, the way we look at the things, the way we look at people, no longer as just strangers on the street, but real hurting, laughing, loving individuals whom the Lord knows one by one and whom He came down to earth in human form to die for on the cross. When we realize this, being so-called 'holy and righteous' doesn't become an obligation, chore, or restrictive anymore. On the contrary, being christian liberates us to live our lives differently, with dignity, humility, and with purpose, no longer having to be tied to the old ways of life we have become trapped in.

If you are still struggling with such doubt even now, strangely, I will tell you that I am happy for you. I pray that you will be able to find that peace that truly surpasses all understanding, in Christ. I do not believe the Lord will fault us for doubting, the whole christian walk itself is a struggle, literally clinging to God. But He will fault us if we give up trying all together. So if you are struggling now, I tell you, as Caleb has said in the earlier post, take heart! Rejoice! And have faith! Know that you can come to the Lord with all your doubts and fears, and ask Him to strengthen your faith. In fact, the stronger our faith becomes, the more the devil will try to waylay us, with those small seeds of doubts, those little whispers of skepticism. But we know that the one who is in us is stronger than the one who is in the world =)

God bless,

Petrina

Take Heart!

2009-05-06T21:33:00.003+08:00

Hi all!

Taking Heart!

Take Heart! I know it's becoming a very trying time for all of us, but let us never forget that in everything we do, we do it for God (Colossians 3:17). Be it in studies, IAs, or just our personal quiet time with Him. Do your best for Him!

Take Heart! For the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

Take Heart! for the Name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe (Proverbs 18:10)

Take Heart! That in all the suffering, you have friends to suffer alongst side you to encourage you all the way!

Take Heart! that we have the armour of Christ and the sword of the spirit! (Ephesians 6)

Take Heart! For the Lord your God goes with you, he will never leave nor forsake you! (Deut 31:6)

Take Heart! Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus! (Philippians 3:14-15)

Take Heart! Do not be weary in doing good, for at a proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

Take Heart! For the hope of salvation (1 Peter 1:3)

Take Heart! For His Grace is sufficent for us and his strength made perfect in our weakness! (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Take Heart! For nothing shall ever separate us from Christ, making us conquerors in Christ (Romans 8:39)

Take Heart! For God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Take Heart! For our light affliction, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Take Heart! For impossible is nothing with God! (Luke 1:37)

Take Heart! For we have a lamp unto our feet, the word of the living God! (Psalms 119:105)

Take Heart! For he is with us till the end of age! (Matthew 28:20)

Take Heart! For we shall overcome, with the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony! (Revelation 12:11)

Take Heart! & I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers! (3 John 2)

God Loves You and is longing that you draw near to Him. Never forget that!!!

Let us always remember to do so even in this time of crazy workloads.

Let us TAKE HEART! Knowing well we have the spirit of God in us. Working to change us into Christ-likeness, showing the world Christ in us, the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27)

In Faith,

Your Humble Servant,

Caleb

God is good ALL the time

2009-05-04T19:06:00.003+08:00

Its been a while since I last posted anything on this blog...

Anyway supz everyone : )

I just felt like blogging cause God has been too awesome. For all of you who know me, I'm mega slacker number one and well because of that, I'm drowning in my work. But still God is good :D
Don't worry, it's going to be a short post.

For all those suffering in IB with me, two words: Trust God

With my EE all crushed, tons of Bio pracs to finish, Business IA to be revised and WL to do, I should be dead by now. But well the good Lord has promised me good to me and that I WILL pull through.

Even when I have so much undone work to do, I decided to take a nice evening walk (sunsets are pretty) and I had a nice chat with God. As usual I was whining to Him about why I was so lazy but He re-directed me to

Psalm 73:

²¹ When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,

²² I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.

²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

Yes indeed the Lord is my refuge. Remember guys even when the going gets tough, remember that the God almighty is in control. Whether you feel Him or not, He is always guiding you by your right hand. Never let Him go, let Him be your strength when you are weak. All you need to do, is ask :)

So brothers and sisters, take heart for the Lord God, our God is an awesome God

-In His name
Friendly Neighbourhood Monkey
Karlo

Grace

2009-04-27T21:53:00.001+08:00

Grace is all I need
Have you really thought about what that means?

Grace, essentially, is a gift that we don’t deserve. It’s the highest order and highest valued present that we can ever get, all because it comprises of the death of the Son of God. No other death, not even yours or mine can ever match up to the worth of those forty over years of suffering, pain, anguish, torment and God becoming man.
Simply said, we don’t deserve this life we are living, entirely because we ought to be dead, crudely put. The punishment for sin, no matter how small, is death. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23]. God is holy, and sin is the total opposite of God. Hence, these two can never be together. So because of one man’s sin, humankind is completely and utterly separated from God. A life not linked to God, is no life at all, because Jesus is the tree of life.
Basically, when you are away from God, you are dead. Pastor Kee preached recently that we are in the land of the dead and we are trying to get to the land of the living. It’s only through Grace that we can get to that land of the living.
In my bible study, I learnt that salvation is predestined, for Paul said that God set him apart from birth. Doesn’t this suggest that Grace is given? That Grace is given to the chosen people? Then WHY must you take all this for granted? Do you not realise the implication that Grace is given to a select few and being one of the few, shouldn’t you feel something?
My friend, I write this article not to criticise, not to bash, not to threaten. But I write this out of compassion, of worry, of friendship. My prayer is that each and every one of you might learn something, that the Holy Spirit might open your eyes after reading this.
May God Bless You.

Eunice

God doesn't choose the equipped, He equips the chosen - Sharing by Jun Kiat

2009-04-24T00:18:00.002+08:00

Sharing by Jun Kiat at FireAC on 23rd April 2009 Morning =):

Hi all, today, I will be talking about how God equips the chosen, and not choosing the equipped. There will be scripture reading and today’s passage is taken from 1^st Samuel chapter 16 6-13. Some background info: Samuel is on the hunt for a new king—King Saul had disobeyed God, and the Lord has spoken to him that one of Jesse’s sons has been chosen king.

6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed stands here before the LORD." 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, "The LORD has not chosen this one either." 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, "Nor has the LORD chosen this one." 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The LORD has not chosen these." 11 So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" "There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep." Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down [a] until he arrives." 12 So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one." 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.

To be equipped is to have a certain set of skills—maybe being charismatic and extremely brave. This is why Jesse and even Samuel thought that the first few brothers were the possible chosen king, looking only at outer appearances. However, our God is one whom judges a person’s character by the heart and willingness to seek after Him. In the end, it was the most unlikely of the eight brothers, David, a mere shepherd who was anointed king. Personally, I feel that the word ‘chosen’ in this context would mean someone who has that strong faith in God and hence, being a spiritual role model for others to follow. One who does not believe in God cannot set out do God’s will for him. David fulfills these requirements which are lacking in his brothers. This goes to show that in our life as servants of this wondrous king, we need to have this worshipful heart or constantly spend quiet time with him. These things are more important than having bible knowledge but not knowing God at all.

Also notice that Man and God judge people differently. In the eyes of Man, Samuel and Jesse, Eliab may have seem the anointed one maybe because he was the firstborn. However, in the eyes of God, it is this shepherd who should be king. When God calls you to his service, do not take heart of others’ criticism that you are not cut out for his purpose. Do not be discouraged and let their comments overrule God’s plan for you. Only God can peer deeply into your character and judge correctly.

Since we are on the theme of stepping out of the comfort zone, let me share what I think about it. Prefects camp—workshop on comfort zone—seen as parallel to confidence—increased by building and expanding your comfort zone—can also parallel this to our spiritual life. By stepping out of his comfort zone, David stepped out of his comfort zone from a mere shepherd to a servant of King Saul to the enemy of King Saul and eventually becoming a King and spiritual leader.

One other character mentioned in the bible who stepped out of his comfort zone was Moses. Just some background info on him—he was adopted into the Egyptian royal family but after he killed a slave master, he fled, becoming a shepherd. One day, God spoke to him to rescue the people of Israel. However, he was afraid of stepping out of his comfortable position and did not want to be involved in any Egyptian affairs. Furthermore, he was afraid that he would not be able to convince the Pharaoh to release his people. God equipped him with two important things. One, a staff that can perform miracles such as opening up the Red Sea and two, Aaron who served as his mouthpiece as Moses was not good at talking.

God equips those chosen for his purpose and we have no reason to be afraid. Lastly let me share about myself stepping out of the comfort zone. Khoen koen mission trip—serve God and change the lives of the people there—had no clue on how to minister to people’s need or pray for them—God provided me with officers and seniors to guide me along the way. So, although I have not made the physical journey—because it was cancelled, I have made the spiritual journey. In all our lives, let us always remember that God has a perfect plan for us and that we just have to trust in his providence.

- Jun Kiat

Purpose of the Church, the Body of Christ

2009-04-15T23:13:00.001+08:00

Hey Guys!

Earlier today I shared about the Purpose of the Church, the Body of Christ. For those who were there this morning, can I request that you donít throw the paper (lyrics of the song) away so quickly? The song truly has much meaning to it, and it reflects on how some of us have been treating others we donít exactly like. We should love them, accept them for who they are, whether they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, or non-believers seeking to know the God we put our faith in.

For those who could not come down for todayís sharing and worship, I shared about how we as the Body of Christ should be a living testimony for our God, the mighty and awesome living God.

¹⁴ ìYou are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heavenî
-Matthew 5:14-16

Indeed we have to look at ourselves, and check if we are setting a good example to our friends. We have to constantly ensure that we are glorifying Godís name in everything we do. As Godís people, we should be shining for God that everyone around us would know that we are His people, and through us, how awesome our God is.

Secondly, I shared about how we should treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Thought we are many parts, we are only ONE body, where Christ is the head. We can have our differences and similarities, we may agree with each other and also disagree with each other, but ultimately, we are called into unity to point people heavenward toward to our Father. Since all of us are special in Godís sight and all of us have our purpose to play in His Body, who are we to feel superior, or even inferior to each other. For it says in 1 Corinthians 12:22
ì²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. ²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.î

Truly we are to, as brothers and sisters in Christ, help each other, pick each other up whenever he/she is down. Most importantly, we are to glorify God as ONE body. As I said earlier today, many of us may know what we should do and have faithfully been applying it to our lives, but I am sure that all of us have at least one person we disliked in our lives. I shared that a few years back, there was a new guy in church. We all found him extremely annoying because he had this squeaky voice and was always just too high and random. So week after week for three whole years we teased him, laughed at him, and mimicked him, so much so that he chose to leave our church. He didnít blame any of us, just plainly stated that this wasnít the right place for him. This served as a reminder to all of us on how we are to treat Godís people. It was a wakeup call and since then, we have been trying our best to love everyone with the love our God first gave us.

Lastly, I gave all of you a challenge, one that I truly hope you will constantly challenge yourself with. Be a shining example for our God, glorifying God in all that we do that men will see us and know that our God is real. I also want to challenge all of you to love each other with the love our God first gave us, to strengthen each other spiritually and to help each other focus on God.

But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ

In His Mercy and Love,
Thaddaeus Tan