Yesterday I felt led to do my quiet time in the morning by the river instead of my home. And so I set out to walk to the river from my home, which is only a stone throw's away. The weather was a bit hot as it was late morning but I just walked on to a place where it would be shadier. Then I came to a place where it is rather cooling and I sat down and began listening to the worship songs.
Have you ever wondered why the psalmist said 'the trees are dancing for joy'? I always felt it weird when I read this until yesterday. As I worshipped, I realised that the trees were indeed dancing to the rhythm of the song I was listening to. When the wind blew and the leaves moved, they really looked like they were dancing and shaking! How marvellous is God's creation that even nature worships our Lord!
As I watched the song 'Worthy is the Lamb' which had snippets from the movie 'The Passion', when I saw Jesus being flogged and nailed to the cross, I could not help but cry again. My dear Jesus! Why did He have to die for us? I asked Jesus 'All that You have done for us, is it worth it?' and He replied 'Yes, it was all worth it.' 'But why?' I asked Him again, 'since we are unworthy of your love and we have sinned. We are always rebellious, always turning our backs on God.' Jesus just said 'You are just like lost sheep to me. My Father and I did this because We love you so.'
I then realised the gravity of the free choice that God had chosen to give us. He knew that not all of His children would choose Him, that He would lose some of us but yet He did it. He loved us too much to make us robots, programmed to love Him. He made us in His image. He would have truly won our hearts when He gave us free will and yet we still chose Him. But I felt that the price God had to pay was simply too much. He had to sacrifice His Only Beloved Son, the Darling of Heaven to die for all our sins.
For Jesus, taking the world's sins and diseases meant that when He hung on the cross, he would be separated from His Abba Father. This separation really broke Jesus' heart because He was so close to His Father that He cannot imagine not being answered by His Father even for a second. Afterall, They were always together even before creation. Even when Jesus came to earth in human form, His Father was always with Him. But at the cross, when Jesus cried out 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?', God cruelly turned His back on His precious Son so that He could turn His face to welcome all of us to His kingdom.
Did you know that whatever Jesus asked of the Father, the Father would always answer Him. Jesus said in John 11:42, before He resurrected Lazarus 'And I know that You always hear Me, but because of this people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe You sent Me.' And Jesus even extended that privilege to us in John 16:23 that whatever we ask the Father in His name, He will give us. But this was only possible after Jesus had suffered and died on our behalf, that our access to Abba God became direct.
My beloved friends, when we look at God's face, we see His glory. When we look at the cross, we see His heart. It is a heart of love, not a heart of enmity with us. Everything changed at the cross when Jesus said 'Look, I have made all things new.'
Friday, April 15, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wear Your Blessings Well
I was listening to Pastor Joel Osteen's sermon 'Wear Your Blessings Well' and I thought of sharing highlights of his message. This came about because we were sharing our testimonies during care group last night and we realised that many of us were still quite shy about sharing how the Lord has blessed us richly. One sister was sharing how unfairly good God had been to her. She quoted the example of how she did not manage to study much for her university subjects compared to her friend who put in so much effort and yet her results were amongst the top 25% when her friend's results was amongst the bottom half. When her friend saw that, she was really upset and this dear sister was so apologetic for her good results.
In actual fact, I believe many of us can relate to such experiences. It is so true that many of these so-called friends actually got jealous and turn away from us when they saw how blessed we became. Sometimes, in an attempt not to be unpopular, we purposely downplay the blessings that God had so freely lavished on us. We thought that would be humble. On the contrary, that would not be what God wanted us to do. He wants us to boast about His love and His blessings on His children.
Sometimes when our desires are fulfilled and we see that other brothers and sisters are still waiting for God's promise to manifest, we hesitate to show our joy and to give thanks to the Lord for our blessings. We thought that this would be showing off and would make others more depressed. On the contrary, our testimony would not discourage them because we could tell them that God is no respector of persons. What He did for us, He could do it for them too. It is not by our own efforts or strength that these blessings came about, it is purely by the Spirit of God. Psalm 118:24 says 'The Lord has done it for us. It is marvelous in our eyes.'
My caregroup leader had this desire to learn photography and was seeking to buy a secondhand camera at a good price. For nine months, he was using his own efforts to search for the best deal but he couldn't find one. So he decided to rest and just let God take care of this issue for him. When he did so, God brought to his path an acquaintance who was thinking of upgrading his camera. My caregroup leader asked if he could sell his used camera at a good price. He agreed to sell his camera at about one third of what would be sold elsewhere. However, when the day came for this guy to deliver the camera, he actually threw in a lot of other stuff and the best part was he gave everything as a gift to my caregroup leader!
Wow, I was so excited when I heard this testimony! Our God is so so good - He not only fulfilled my caregroup leader's desire, He did it in such a way that was above and beyond what he could ask or imagine! This is the kind of God that we serve, so we do not have to apologise for His blessings in our life. Instead we should learn to wear our blessings well. We are made to be so blessed that other people not only would notice, they want the very God that we serve! All glory to God!
In actual fact, I believe many of us can relate to such experiences. It is so true that many of these so-called friends actually got jealous and turn away from us when they saw how blessed we became. Sometimes, in an attempt not to be unpopular, we purposely downplay the blessings that God had so freely lavished on us. We thought that would be humble. On the contrary, that would not be what God wanted us to do. He wants us to boast about His love and His blessings on His children.
Sometimes when our desires are fulfilled and we see that other brothers and sisters are still waiting for God's promise to manifest, we hesitate to show our joy and to give thanks to the Lord for our blessings. We thought that this would be showing off and would make others more depressed. On the contrary, our testimony would not discourage them because we could tell them that God is no respector of persons. What He did for us, He could do it for them too. It is not by our own efforts or strength that these blessings came about, it is purely by the Spirit of God. Psalm 118:24 says 'The Lord has done it for us. It is marvelous in our eyes.'
My caregroup leader had this desire to learn photography and was seeking to buy a secondhand camera at a good price. For nine months, he was using his own efforts to search for the best deal but he couldn't find one. So he decided to rest and just let God take care of this issue for him. When he did so, God brought to his path an acquaintance who was thinking of upgrading his camera. My caregroup leader asked if he could sell his used camera at a good price. He agreed to sell his camera at about one third of what would be sold elsewhere. However, when the day came for this guy to deliver the camera, he actually threw in a lot of other stuff and the best part was he gave everything as a gift to my caregroup leader!
Wow, I was so excited when I heard this testimony! Our God is so so good - He not only fulfilled my caregroup leader's desire, He did it in such a way that was above and beyond what he could ask or imagine! This is the kind of God that we serve, so we do not have to apologise for His blessings in our life. Instead we should learn to wear our blessings well. We are made to be so blessed that other people not only would notice, they want the very God that we serve! All glory to God!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Our Batam Trip
Thank God for a good 3D2N trip to Batam! We stayed at Harris Resort which was a nice and vibrant place filled with activities. Joshua liked the hotel because he could swim for all three days. My parents were also able to join us for the second day and we went for a good meal at a Chinese restaurant which cost only S$51. We also bought quite a lot of things from Batam. Some things were really cheap like the two t-shirts which I bought costing only S$1.50 each! Overall the things there were not too expensive but the variety was limited.
On the last day, while waiting for the return ferry trip, our family went for a bowling game with my parents. When we first stepped into the bowling alley, it was totally quiet, devoid of customers. Then as we started playing, the other bowling lanes were being taken up and the place became lively and vibrant! I told my parents that this place was blessed because we came. We brought the customers to the bowling alley. My mum agreed and said this was what Pastor Prince always mentioned that we are a blessing everywhere we go.
During the ferry ride back home, there was heavy rain and thunderstorm on the sea. The waves were tossing to and fro and the ferry was experiencing turbulence, much like a roller coaster ride. I actually felt very peaceful about it because I knew Jesus was with me in the boat, like how Jesus was with the disciples during the storm. I know this ferry was protected because the family of God's beloved were in it. My dad was quite worried and kept talking about the rocking caused by the waves. My mum was praying 'real hard' that we would make it safely to Singapore. Heng and I were very confident that God would bring us back safely and we did not even pray. And so we did reach Singapore safely! Thank God!
Upon reaching Harbourfront City, we went for dinner at this fishball noodle shop within the shopping centre. Again when we reached that place, we were the only customers. As we ordered our food and started eating, more customers started streaming in. I told my parents that the same thing happened again - that we were a blessing to the shop, bringing in customers. My dad was quite amazed and he agreed, having witnessed it twice! Thank God for not only blessing and protecting us, His blessings even overflowed to the people around us!
On the last day, while waiting for the return ferry trip, our family went for a bowling game with my parents. When we first stepped into the bowling alley, it was totally quiet, devoid of customers. Then as we started playing, the other bowling lanes were being taken up and the place became lively and vibrant! I told my parents that this place was blessed because we came. We brought the customers to the bowling alley. My mum agreed and said this was what Pastor Prince always mentioned that we are a blessing everywhere we go.
During the ferry ride back home, there was heavy rain and thunderstorm on the sea. The waves were tossing to and fro and the ferry was experiencing turbulence, much like a roller coaster ride. I actually felt very peaceful about it because I knew Jesus was with me in the boat, like how Jesus was with the disciples during the storm. I know this ferry was protected because the family of God's beloved were in it. My dad was quite worried and kept talking about the rocking caused by the waves. My mum was praying 'real hard' that we would make it safely to Singapore. Heng and I were very confident that God would bring us back safely and we did not even pray. And so we did reach Singapore safely! Thank God!
Upon reaching Harbourfront City, we went for dinner at this fishball noodle shop within the shopping centre. Again when we reached that place, we were the only customers. As we ordered our food and started eating, more customers started streaming in. I told my parents that the same thing happened again - that we were a blessing to the shop, bringing in customers. My dad was quite amazed and he agreed, having witnessed it twice! Thank God for not only blessing and protecting us, His blessings even overflowed to the people around us!
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