You are God's!

Isaiah 43:1-3
Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

There are days when I marvel at how weak and feeble many of us are in our Christian walk. Somehow, many don't seem to revel in the truth that accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and saviour has elevated their lives position as Children of God. Not any god, but a child of the almighty, omnipotent God who created the heaven and everything on and in the earth. We are God's! Why then are we not moving from the whiny, burdened life which everyone lives and then live purposefully and joyfully?

Can there be any greater comfort or encouragement than to revel in the reality of this verse in which God says I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by your name YOU ARE MINE! Born by God, Redeemed by God, Summoned by God, Claimed by God You Are Mine! That should cause our hearts to overflow with continual praise and thanksgiving as we bow in awe before HIM. Has this blessed truth ever penetrated your heart? Who are you that the almighty God would adopt with open arms and claim you as His? Yet, He did and make you and I joint-heirs in Christ. It should radically change your life from a passive spiritual existence to a triumphant life in Christ!

How mighty are the words of Habakkuk amidst the most devastating conditions. Read them thoughtfully and let the word of God impact your heart. May you arise from the miry, mediocre life and live an astounding life filled with power and joy from today and beyond.

Blessings,
M.

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines: the labor of the olive tree shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Hab.3:17-18)

Hosanna to the Son of David

I see the king of glory
Coming down the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes
I see his love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing, the people sing

Hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation
Rising up to take the place
With selfless faith, with selfless faith
I see a new revival
Staring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees, we're on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what is yours
Everything I am for your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity
(Hosanna by Hillsong United)

I must say that I really like this song by Hillsongs. It reminds me of the scene in John 12:13 where Jesus entered into Jerusalem:

"On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, "Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel."

As I sung this song this morning, the words of the song really awakened my inner being as the words "Hosanna, Hosanna" resounded throughout the chorus. It just felt so very right as I echoed the chorus as I know someday before the spendid majesty of God, believers will fall in awe and proclaim it before Him.

Meanwhile while we are forging ahead in our earthly and transient journey, may we be a people of selfless faith who are willing to be broken for the purposes of God to be fulfilled in our lives.

blessings,
M.

"Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them." (Luke 12:37)

Who do you say Jesus is?

Matthew 16 :13 & 15
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

When Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples this simple but complex question, "Who do you say I am?". I personally feel that it is a challenging question for one to answer on the spot because the answer which we spout forth would reflect the true nature of who Jesus is to us.

The bible says that we will know a true prophet/believer if he proclaims that Jehovah is God and Jesus as the son of God and the only way we can save ourselves from sin is to accept and believe in Him.

There are many other compromised answers which the world say of who Jesus is. The Mormons answer this question by saying that Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer; Jehovah's Witnesses answer by saying that Jesus is the archangel Michael; New Agers say Jesus is an avatar or enlightened messenger.

As a born again Christian, who do you say that Jesus is in your life? Your answer would reveal if he is indeed on the throne of our life.

Today, may you be one of them who confess "Jesus, you are the Lord of my life, the son of the living God".

blessings,
M.

"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matthew. 16:16

Do You Love Jesus?

John 21:16
Lovest thou me? feed my sheep.

Three times Jesus says this phrase to Peter, until Peter got agitated. Some scholars have mentioned that perhaps it was to drill it into Peter because earlier on he had professed to Jesus that he will never depart Jesus. Yet when Jesus was arrested, Peter denied Christ thrice. Nonetheless, one of the reason why Peter was also selected to answer this question was because he was regarded as the head of all the disciples.

This is a clear mandate to all of Christians. If you say you love Jesus, Jesus is asking you to "feed his sheep". (Sheep! feed the silly, low IQ animals called mankind - I've shared about this topic in an earlier post)

We often find ourselves devoted to life's causes, programs, entertainment and activities, and so few devoted to an intimate relationship with Christ. Jesus' first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of Men; that was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. The same principle is imperative in our spiritual life.

If today you look at your life and can plainly see that you are not serving the heartbeat of God, I can confidently also say that you have issues saying "Jesus, I love you truly." Not to hurl stones at your life or condemn those who are not actively serving or reaching out to the world whom God created and so loved (John 3:16), but the key purpose of this passage speaks of Jesus' commands on his disciples to show forth their love to him through the necessary actions that he desired of his disciples.

Yes, if the people whom we are called to serve are truely as frustratingly silly and stupid like sheep, I can understand how many of us would shun the job and just want to not do anything. But we're not told to shephard the sheep, we're told only to do the simple act of feeding. How can we run away from such a simple instruction for Jesus if we say we are devoted to him?

The message of Christ is not to make us busy workers in various ministries, because our devotion to Christ must take precedent over our service for Christ. This does not take away from being involved in service for Christ; rather, when HE is our foremost concern and the ONE to whom our life is devoted to. Thus, our involvement in serving will naturally follow as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

I liken it to falling in love, and since I'm no expert in the area of falling in love, at least I like to raise the example of having a best friend in life. Not only do we cherish the person, for the time and open communication which transpires in friendship, we would naturally offer help and express interest in any issue which the individual faces.

Thus, the overflow of our love for Christ would naturally see us doing what our Master and Lord feels for. That is why all of our service and ministry should begin with our devotion to Christ and our trust in Him, as the source of our strength and sufficiency.

We don't serve or minister with our own strength or with good intentions, that's called human charity which the world already practices. Instead, as we grow in our knowledge and fellowship with God, the Holy spirit with natually penetrate our hearts and bring us to see the heartbeat of God and teach us how to serve Him with complete reliance upon HIM.

Do you love Jesus? May your love for him lead you to feed his sheep.

Blessings,
M.

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." " (John 6:68)

In the day of Battle

Psalm 78:8-9
"They would not be like their forefathers - a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle"

One of my greatest fear is that the youths whom I taught or am teaching currently will someday lapse into their old self the moment I move on and stop being their immediate leader. I say this not of pride nor of need to gain self accomplishment but really because I know that every one's mettle is only proven when the storms of life hit and you are left to make your own choices. As seen in the bible through many examples such as this: "No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the LORD their God" (Judges 8:33-34a)

Ephriam was not just any other tribe, it is the tribe from which Joshua was from. Numbers 2:18-24 also tell us that the tribe of Ephriam were a priviledged tribe who were placed to the west of the ark of covenant in the Israelite formation.

Yet, greatness of one's history or heritage does not secure the equal greatness of one's character. Just because your forefather was one of the greatest leaders in history does not make you of equal standing like them.

The men of Ephraim were well equipped and furnished with the required weapons, however, they failed in faith and courage and retreated before the foe. What a tragedy it is to be equipped with the required weapon and then fail to muster the moral courage to fight gallantly as required and trained.

The account of the men of Ephraim in Psalm 78.9 can happen to anyone of us. Let's not kid ourselves, talk of us being in faith with God is cheap. I don't believe that anyone of us in church today can say that we're not equipped with the weapons to defend ourselves or to take the higher ground in battle.

Today, you can serve actively in church or be involved in a ministry or cell that is providing you with a covering, but in the day of your own battle where you are to stand for your faith and do what you are to do, will you turn your back like the men of Ephraim?

May you always stand your ground in faith and loyalty to God.

Blessings,
M.

"But 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. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:26-27)

I'm the House of Prayer

Luke 19:45-46
Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, saying to them, "It is written, "AND MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER," but you have made it a ROBBERS' DEN."

Nowadays, thanks to the fact that I'm handling the walkman category of the phones, I've started depending on the phone to play all my christian songs and podcast sermons the moment I leave the house. This allows me to worship or listen to the word of God being shared and boy is it really invigorating to start the day this way, especially when the weather is cool and on days when the Holy Spirit reveals a deeper revelation of the word of God and God's perspectives of things.

It's an amazing feeling of revelation when you think about the word of God and it literally becomes alive and pops into a 3D format at you.

Just a day ago, I was brought into prayer after a brief worship session as I walked to work and suddenly this incident popped up into my mind:
Some time ago, Clark was playing "chor tie ti" (a somewhat chinese version of bridge) in the annex with some of the other ex rangers and I voiced my displeasure of him partaking in what I considered to be gambling - even if it didn't involve money. Somehow, in my perspective, I regard it as gambling because it is an activity which the secular partakes. There and then it was and still is disturbing for me to see my Rangers living compromised lives as they partake in their entertainment activities which the world practices for its own version of entertainment. Not that I'm innocent for not doing something similar because I too was chided, when I was 16, by my father for playing mahjong even though too gave the similar excuse of "I'm not playing with money." Don't get me wrong, I really love playing mahjong as a game, so I didn't just obey when my father chided me, rather I stood my ground and argued with my aggressive teenage attitude - and boy was I a fiery, stubborn teenager then.

Somehow, I chose to swallow the logic of my father when he retorted through my argument of "the game is developed behind the spirit of gambling and you are partaking in it when you play the game". I'm not sure when I finally bought the logic but through obliging obedience, somehow today I'm not comfortable with Christians adopting secular stuff for our own lifestyle usage as we inevitably disguise or ignore the essence and spirit behind the secular activity. Thus, I stand firm in discomfort against any of my rangers who partake in adopting secular gambling games or programmes in their excuse of clean entertainment.

Anyhow, after that thought of the event in the annex came back to me in remembrance, before I could think in puzzlement why, the word of God in the passage above of Luke 19:45-46 came to mind. It dawned upon myself that the Annex which we used as the church is not to be used as an den where gambling activities and spirit of thieves and robbers reside. But before I could affirm with a "oh, I see", the next passage popped up and hit me hard in deep revelation.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says: "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

Immediately, the holy spirit spoke to me that the issue of Clark and gang playing "Chor Tie Ti" wasn't just about the physical church being neglected as a place of worship but it also involved a deeper issue of our bodies, "temple of the Holy Spirit", being defiled when we partake in secular activities. Often we perceive the first level of this verse meaning by stating that we should not mutilate our physical bodies or even pollute through vocal obscenities, immoral sexual lifestyle or disgusting habits.

The deeper meaning of Jesus displaying his righteous anger as he chased the vendors and money changers from the physical synagogue is also realised in our physical bodies because our bodies and all it's physical, mental, social and emotional elements have been purchased by the blood of Christ. Therefore it is no longer us that live and we are not free to do as we want to defile our being.

Lord, today may the Holy Spirit check, convict and stop us for all the stuff, things, activities & entertaiment of the world that we consume wantonly. Forgive us for the times we defile this body which you have paid for with your precious blood and work on the cross, for we know that we need to make this body a house of prayer and not a den of sin.

May you and I live lives that bring to God the greatest glory, even if the world thinks we're being boring or silly for the strictness of our lifestyle.

Blessings,
M.

"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!" (1 Corinthians 6:15)