Saturday, July 30, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Devil's Distraction
There is one trip that V & I always look forward to each year, and that's the trip to Sydney Hillsong Conference (for a glimpse of Hillsong Conference 2011, click here).
If you're a big fan of God's words and faith building seminars, you'd know what I'm talking about. Over forty thousand people from over 100 countries, representing almost every single Christian denomination, travel the world to attend this conference. Through the amazing atmosphere of worship and through the word of God spoken by world-known anointed preachers, flawed, sinful, ordinary people like you and me, encounter the almighty God.
This year however, the devil tried very hard to distract us in many ways. Ever since we landed in Sydney, right through to the last day of the conference, one incident after another just had to happen. What I'm about to share is something very personal to us, and I have thought long and hard about whether to share this or not, but I just feel in my heart that this happened for one reason: that His children may be strengthened and encouraged, and His name may be glorified. If you happen to be reading this blog entry, can I just warn you that it is quite long, but if you choose to continue, I pray that God will speak to you personally and encourage you in your journey of life.
We landed in Sydney on Saturday morning. As soon as we landed, I took Naomi to the bathroom and I notice that I was bleeding. What we have kept a secret from everyone except for our family, is that about three weeks prior to the trip I tested positive for pregnancy, and that morning I was about 9-10 weeks pregnant. When I found out about the pregnancy, V & I thought about cancelling the trip because last year in September, I had a miscarriage. Nobody knew why, but I had two interstate work trips during my first trimester just a few weeks before the miscarriage, so we thought we should cancel this trip. The thing is, we were both so excited about this conference, and we both believed that if this baby is meant to be, it will survive the one trip we've planned a whole year long. So we decided to go anyway.
At first I only noticed spotting, and according to pregnancy resources, it does not necessarily mean a miscarriage, so I just kept praying for God's protection on the baby and I surrendered everything into His hands. In my mind I could not stop thinking about it, and it was quite distracting at times. During the conference I had to rebuke all my negative thoughts and surrender everything to God, over and over again, just so I can concentrate.
In addition to that, on Tuesday night when the first night rally began, I received a very disturbing phone call from my mum who was looking after Naomi for us. To cut long story short and to respect some privacy, let's just say I had a family conflict. It was annoying, anger-stirring, and most of all, distracting. I just felt like the devil really used all sorts of things to distract me from hearing from God in the conference.
On the second day, we were very blessed to be hearing from Priscilla Shirer, Brian Houston, and John C Maxwell. Naomi spent the day at kids' church and I believed she was blessed too. There was a lot of build up for the night rally, and we were all excited to attend the second night rally and the devil knew it. As I was walking towards the venue, Naomi all of a sudden fell. She tripped over something and when she got up, she cried and held her left elbow. She seemed to be in a lot of pain, and she kept crying. She would not let anyone touched her elbow or her arm. She held it close to her chest the whole time and she would not move it due to the pain. We took her to the first aid people and they suggested that we took her to the Children's Hospital Emergency and so we did. We were blessed to have some volunteers drove us there. During the whole incident, V & I were just shaking our heads. We just could not believe that it's just been one incident after another. We just felt like devil tried really hard this year to distract us, and more than anything we were very very very angry.
After a long wait and a very difficult x-ray session (because she would not move her arm beyond 10 cm off her chest), the doctor finally figured out that there was no broken bone and Naomi's somehow pulled her elbow and it need to be manually repositioned. Apparently this is common for kids and can easily be done when they're younger. However, in this case, Naomi's 6 y.o and has a bit of strength to actually resist while the doctor was trying to reposition the elbow joint. Finally, after spending about 4 hours in the hospital and a bucketful of tears, we were able to go home. Although Naomi went home with a life-long hatred for doctors and the hospital, at least her elbow was fixed. As for us, we just had to put aside our disappointment and anger, because at the end of the day nothing matters more than our one and only little princess.
That night I was just exhausted and in tears, I really had have enough by then. My bleeding and my family saga continued in the background through the first two days. By then I just believed that something big and powerful was about to happen through the conference. That's why the devil tried so hard to distract us by using all sorts of things including our own family members. That night we prayed and prayed and prayed for the Holy Spirit to fight the battle for us. As a family, we choose not to be discouraged, but to continue to praise Him. We choose to believe....
… that everything happens for a reason.
… that God will fight the battle for us.
… that our lives will be used to display His amazing love.
Thursday, day three of the conference, went quite smoothly. We were blessed and encouraged by His words and His presence. We were filled with peace and joy, and totally enjoyed everything right through to the end of the night rally. Then we went home to our apartment.
As if the devil just could not stand looking at us being so blessed by His presence, on Thursday night he began another incident. At just before midnight, I started bleeding quite heavily. It was similar to the first miscarriage that I had in September last year. I knew then that I had to take myself to the hospital emergency. So my brother took us there.
At the rate that I was bleeding, I thought the doctor would see me right away and from last year's experience as soon as the doctor proceed with the minor procedure, I was out of the hospital within about 2-3 hours. However, as soon as I got to the hospital, my body decided to slow down the bleeding. Therefore I was not an urgent priority and had to wait in the queue to be seen by the doctor. We waited for hours and Naomi had to sleep on V while we sat in the waiting room. We waited and waited and the bleeding stayed at quite a stable, 'non-urgent' rate. So I decided to walk up and down the empty hospital corridor, praying for God to intervene. I prayed for God to speed up my bleeding, to just let the whole thing pour like a flood so we can get the whole thing over and done with and my hubby and little princess can go home and enjoy their sleep. After waiting for about two hours, I started bleeding quite heavily and was finally seen by a doctor. So she did what she had to do and everything was done within about one hour. It was nearly 5 am Friday morning, and she's made me an appointment to be seen by the specialist at 7.30 am in the morning so I sent V and Naomi home while I waited for my appointment.
Four hours later, I was sitting in the doctor's room and was told that a miscarriage had taken place but everything went well and my uterus seemed quite empty and normal. I was released home. Hearing that for the second time within a year gave me mixed emotions. I had lots of questions in my mind, I did not understand why or what had happened in relation to God and what He's doing in our lives. I was sad, upset, angry, confused, all at the same time. We've been praying for Naomi to have a sibling, Naomi's been praying for a lot longer than we have. We thought God carefully knitted this baby in my womb. We thought He wanted to bless us with another child. All these thoughts and questions ran through my head. I was confused.
At that time I knew that I had to make a choice.
I could choose to be bitter and disappointed with God, or I could choose to continue to believe that He is good despite of our current circumstances.
I could choose to go home and cry over something I could no longer change, or I could put it all behind and move on with this God given life.
I could choose to give up all this work for His kingdom, or I could continue believing that He has a greater plan for us.
Through it all, there was one thing that just seemed to overflow my heart and overtake my minds and my emotions. Right there and then, in that small doctor's office, without a doubt, I knew that although I don't understand it all, God still loves me. I just knew in my heart that our God, the God of Abraham, the father of Jesus Christ, is just too good and too loving to bring evil and harm to the lives of His children. He who name every star in the sky, He who whispered them all to their place, He who gave up His only son to pay for my sins, He knows everything. Everything happened within His sovereign knowledge, and a sense of His unending love just overflowed my heart in a way that I just cannot explain with words.
It was no longer a choice to make. I did not even had to choose my next attitude. It was like God had choosen my attitude for me. It was almost like I had no other choice, but to continue to thank Him, and to praise Him, and to believe that He is good. There was an overflow of grace and abundance of faith within me that I never even knew existed. No wander Paul said that if God allowed troubles and trials to come your way, He will give you the strength and the faith to handle it; and these trials and tribulation will do nothing but strengthen us in our faith and our spirit. So that afternoon I went home to rest, and by 5pm we were back in Sydney Entertainment Centre, full of joy, full of peace, ready to hear from Him, ready to encounter Him, …. and we did.
That night,Jantezen Franklin spoke about Jacob. After the death of his favourite son, Joseph, Jacob held on to Joseph's bloody coat and grief. He grief over Joseph for a long period of time that the bloody coat became the centre of his life. It controlled his thoughts and emotions, it changed the atmosphere of his household, and it brought dullness and sadness into their everyday lives. For a long period of time, Jacob was robbed of his joy, of his peace and of the other great things God might have possibly planned for his life. Simply because he chose to focus on the bloody coat, on Joseph's death, on the past tragedy of life.
Jentezen also spoke about Peter, who once said he loved Jesus three times, and swore to never disown him. Pushed to the corner, motivated by his own selfish desire to not be hated by the crowd, Peter went against his own words and disown Jesus three times before the rooster crowed, just as Jesus had said he would. From that day on, every time the rooster crowed, Peter was reminded of his act of betrayal to the one he swore to love. Every time the rooster crowed, Peter was reminded of how evil and bad he was as a friend and a disciple. Every time the rooster crowed, he felt condemned, guilty, and ashamed for what he has done.
Some of us has a bloody coat in our lives. Past tragedies that we do not understand. Past events which have brought hurt, pain, bitterness, anger and tears. While others have a rooster crowing into their heads of their past guilt sin and shame everyday of their lives, telling them that they're worthless or useless, or simply bringing past sins to condemn us, to fill our lives with guilt and shame, so that we cannot accept the fact that there is a God who loves us despite of our sinful nature. Some of us has a coat, or a rooster, or both, and they rob us of the joy of life, of peace, of abundant blessings and of great future that God had planned for us.
If that's you, it is time to let go..... It is time to move on.... It is time to put the past behind and believe that your life has been designed for a greater and much fulfilling purpose than just to grief, or to be angry, or to be disappointed, or to be sad. All it takes is faith as small as a mustard seed, a faith that believes that there is a God who loves you unconditionally. Despite of what you've done, who you are, your past and your background, and that He has given His one and only son, Jesus, to die for your sins so that He can love you and have a relationship with you. Believe that God has a great plan for you, each one of you. He has come so that we can have an 'abundant' life, and not just survive the motion of life in dullness, bitterness and disappointment. He wants us to experience His power, His generosity, His forgiveness, His grace and mercy, and to have a blessed, abundant life despite of our circumstances.
There and then, amongst thousands other conference delegates, I understood that everything that we went through helped brought the words of the Bible to life. As if Jentezen Franklin was talking to me and nobody else, I knew not just in my head, but also in my heart that what he was saying is true.
I am writing to testify that this is exactly what we're experiencing right now. Despite of our circumstances, despite of the devil's attempt to distract us from our love of God, despite of everything that tries to pull us in the other direction, we are overflowed with a sense of blessing, joy, peace, and faith in greater things to come. It's like without any struggle, without any doubt, without any hesitation, we know and we just continue to believe that this is just part one of a greater testimony, and this strength and faith that we have in our hearts come from Him.
With this I pray that you would give God a chance... to take the steering wheel of your life and take you to a more amazing journey of life. That you would give God a chance... to love you and to bless you not just materially, but also physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. That you would give God a chance... to make a difference in your life. That you would give God a chance to have a relationship with you and grant you a blessed eternal life in heaven. Amen.
1 Corinthians 10
If you're a big fan of God's words and faith building seminars, you'd know what I'm talking about. Over forty thousand people from over 100 countries, representing almost every single Christian denomination, travel the world to attend this conference. Through the amazing atmosphere of worship and through the word of God spoken by world-known anointed preachers, flawed, sinful, ordinary people like you and me, encounter the almighty God.
This year however, the devil tried very hard to distract us in many ways. Ever since we landed in Sydney, right through to the last day of the conference, one incident after another just had to happen. What I'm about to share is something very personal to us, and I have thought long and hard about whether to share this or not, but I just feel in my heart that this happened for one reason: that His children may be strengthened and encouraged, and His name may be glorified. If you happen to be reading this blog entry, can I just warn you that it is quite long, but if you choose to continue, I pray that God will speak to you personally and encourage you in your journey of life.
We landed in Sydney on Saturday morning. As soon as we landed, I took Naomi to the bathroom and I notice that I was bleeding. What we have kept a secret from everyone except for our family, is that about three weeks prior to the trip I tested positive for pregnancy, and that morning I was about 9-10 weeks pregnant. When I found out about the pregnancy, V & I thought about cancelling the trip because last year in September, I had a miscarriage. Nobody knew why, but I had two interstate work trips during my first trimester just a few weeks before the miscarriage, so we thought we should cancel this trip. The thing is, we were both so excited about this conference, and we both believed that if this baby is meant to be, it will survive the one trip we've planned a whole year long. So we decided to go anyway.
At first I only noticed spotting, and according to pregnancy resources, it does not necessarily mean a miscarriage, so I just kept praying for God's protection on the baby and I surrendered everything into His hands. In my mind I could not stop thinking about it, and it was quite distracting at times. During the conference I had to rebuke all my negative thoughts and surrender everything to God, over and over again, just so I can concentrate.
In addition to that, on Tuesday night when the first night rally began, I received a very disturbing phone call from my mum who was looking after Naomi for us. To cut long story short and to respect some privacy, let's just say I had a family conflict. It was annoying, anger-stirring, and most of all, distracting. I just felt like the devil really used all sorts of things to distract me from hearing from God in the conference.
On the second day, we were very blessed to be hearing from Priscilla Shirer, Brian Houston, and John C Maxwell. Naomi spent the day at kids' church and I believed she was blessed too. There was a lot of build up for the night rally, and we were all excited to attend the second night rally and the devil knew it. As I was walking towards the venue, Naomi all of a sudden fell. She tripped over something and when she got up, she cried and held her left elbow. She seemed to be in a lot of pain, and she kept crying. She would not let anyone touched her elbow or her arm. She held it close to her chest the whole time and she would not move it due to the pain. We took her to the first aid people and they suggested that we took her to the Children's Hospital Emergency and so we did. We were blessed to have some volunteers drove us there. During the whole incident, V & I were just shaking our heads. We just could not believe that it's just been one incident after another. We just felt like devil tried really hard this year to distract us, and more than anything we were very very very angry.
After a long wait and a very difficult x-ray session (because she would not move her arm beyond 10 cm off her chest), the doctor finally figured out that there was no broken bone and Naomi's somehow pulled her elbow and it need to be manually repositioned. Apparently this is common for kids and can easily be done when they're younger. However, in this case, Naomi's 6 y.o and has a bit of strength to actually resist while the doctor was trying to reposition the elbow joint. Finally, after spending about 4 hours in the hospital and a bucketful of tears, we were able to go home. Although Naomi went home with a life-long hatred for doctors and the hospital, at least her elbow was fixed. As for us, we just had to put aside our disappointment and anger, because at the end of the day nothing matters more than our one and only little princess.
That night I was just exhausted and in tears, I really had have enough by then. My bleeding and my family saga continued in the background through the first two days. By then I just believed that something big and powerful was about to happen through the conference. That's why the devil tried so hard to distract us by using all sorts of things including our own family members. That night we prayed and prayed and prayed for the Holy Spirit to fight the battle for us. As a family, we choose not to be discouraged, but to continue to praise Him. We choose to believe....
… that everything happens for a reason.
… that God will fight the battle for us.
… that our lives will be used to display His amazing love.
Thursday, day three of the conference, went quite smoothly. We were blessed and encouraged by His words and His presence. We were filled with peace and joy, and totally enjoyed everything right through to the end of the night rally. Then we went home to our apartment.
As if the devil just could not stand looking at us being so blessed by His presence, on Thursday night he began another incident. At just before midnight, I started bleeding quite heavily. It was similar to the first miscarriage that I had in September last year. I knew then that I had to take myself to the hospital emergency. So my brother took us there.
At the rate that I was bleeding, I thought the doctor would see me right away and from last year's experience as soon as the doctor proceed with the minor procedure, I was out of the hospital within about 2-3 hours. However, as soon as I got to the hospital, my body decided to slow down the bleeding. Therefore I was not an urgent priority and had to wait in the queue to be seen by the doctor. We waited for hours and Naomi had to sleep on V while we sat in the waiting room. We waited and waited and the bleeding stayed at quite a stable, 'non-urgent' rate. So I decided to walk up and down the empty hospital corridor, praying for God to intervene. I prayed for God to speed up my bleeding, to just let the whole thing pour like a flood so we can get the whole thing over and done with and my hubby and little princess can go home and enjoy their sleep. After waiting for about two hours, I started bleeding quite heavily and was finally seen by a doctor. So she did what she had to do and everything was done within about one hour. It was nearly 5 am Friday morning, and she's made me an appointment to be seen by the specialist at 7.30 am in the morning so I sent V and Naomi home while I waited for my appointment.
Four hours later, I was sitting in the doctor's room and was told that a miscarriage had taken place but everything went well and my uterus seemed quite empty and normal. I was released home. Hearing that for the second time within a year gave me mixed emotions. I had lots of questions in my mind, I did not understand why or what had happened in relation to God and what He's doing in our lives. I was sad, upset, angry, confused, all at the same time. We've been praying for Naomi to have a sibling, Naomi's been praying for a lot longer than we have. We thought God carefully knitted this baby in my womb. We thought He wanted to bless us with another child. All these thoughts and questions ran through my head. I was confused.
At that time I knew that I had to make a choice.
I could choose to be bitter and disappointed with God, or I could choose to continue to believe that He is good despite of our current circumstances.
I could choose to go home and cry over something I could no longer change, or I could put it all behind and move on with this God given life.
I could choose to give up all this work for His kingdom, or I could continue believing that He has a greater plan for us.
Through it all, there was one thing that just seemed to overflow my heart and overtake my minds and my emotions. Right there and then, in that small doctor's office, without a doubt, I knew that although I don't understand it all, God still loves me. I just knew in my heart that our God, the God of Abraham, the father of Jesus Christ, is just too good and too loving to bring evil and harm to the lives of His children. He who name every star in the sky, He who whispered them all to their place, He who gave up His only son to pay for my sins, He knows everything. Everything happened within His sovereign knowledge, and a sense of His unending love just overflowed my heart in a way that I just cannot explain with words.
It was no longer a choice to make. I did not even had to choose my next attitude. It was like God had choosen my attitude for me. It was almost like I had no other choice, but to continue to thank Him, and to praise Him, and to believe that He is good. There was an overflow of grace and abundance of faith within me that I never even knew existed. No wander Paul said that if God allowed troubles and trials to come your way, He will give you the strength and the faith to handle it; and these trials and tribulation will do nothing but strengthen us in our faith and our spirit. So that afternoon I went home to rest, and by 5pm we were back in Sydney Entertainment Centre, full of joy, full of peace, ready to hear from Him, ready to encounter Him, …. and we did.
That night,Jantezen Franklin spoke about Jacob. After the death of his favourite son, Joseph, Jacob held on to Joseph's bloody coat and grief. He grief over Joseph for a long period of time that the bloody coat became the centre of his life. It controlled his thoughts and emotions, it changed the atmosphere of his household, and it brought dullness and sadness into their everyday lives. For a long period of time, Jacob was robbed of his joy, of his peace and of the other great things God might have possibly planned for his life. Simply because he chose to focus on the bloody coat, on Joseph's death, on the past tragedy of life.
Jentezen also spoke about Peter, who once said he loved Jesus three times, and swore to never disown him. Pushed to the corner, motivated by his own selfish desire to not be hated by the crowd, Peter went against his own words and disown Jesus three times before the rooster crowed, just as Jesus had said he would. From that day on, every time the rooster crowed, Peter was reminded of his act of betrayal to the one he swore to love. Every time the rooster crowed, Peter was reminded of how evil and bad he was as a friend and a disciple. Every time the rooster crowed, he felt condemned, guilty, and ashamed for what he has done.
Some of us has a bloody coat in our lives. Past tragedies that we do not understand. Past events which have brought hurt, pain, bitterness, anger and tears. While others have a rooster crowing into their heads of their past guilt sin and shame everyday of their lives, telling them that they're worthless or useless, or simply bringing past sins to condemn us, to fill our lives with guilt and shame, so that we cannot accept the fact that there is a God who loves us despite of our sinful nature. Some of us has a coat, or a rooster, or both, and they rob us of the joy of life, of peace, of abundant blessings and of great future that God had planned for us.
If that's you, it is time to let go..... It is time to move on.... It is time to put the past behind and believe that your life has been designed for a greater and much fulfilling purpose than just to grief, or to be angry, or to be disappointed, or to be sad. All it takes is faith as small as a mustard seed, a faith that believes that there is a God who loves you unconditionally. Despite of what you've done, who you are, your past and your background, and that He has given His one and only son, Jesus, to die for your sins so that He can love you and have a relationship with you. Believe that God has a great plan for you, each one of you. He has come so that we can have an 'abundant' life, and not just survive the motion of life in dullness, bitterness and disappointment. He wants us to experience His power, His generosity, His forgiveness, His grace and mercy, and to have a blessed, abundant life despite of our circumstances.
There and then, amongst thousands other conference delegates, I understood that everything that we went through helped brought the words of the Bible to life. As if Jentezen Franklin was talking to me and nobody else, I knew not just in my head, but also in my heart that what he was saying is true.
I am writing to testify that this is exactly what we're experiencing right now. Despite of our circumstances, despite of the devil's attempt to distract us from our love of God, despite of everything that tries to pull us in the other direction, we are overflowed with a sense of blessing, joy, peace, and faith in greater things to come. It's like without any struggle, without any doubt, without any hesitation, we know and we just continue to believe that this is just part one of a greater testimony, and this strength and faith that we have in our hearts come from Him.
With this I pray that you would give God a chance... to take the steering wheel of your life and take you to a more amazing journey of life. That you would give God a chance... to love you and to bless you not just materially, but also physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. That you would give God a chance... to make a difference in your life. That you would give God a chance to have a relationship with you and grant you a blessed eternal life in heaven. Amen.
1 Corinthians 10
13 No temptation[c] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[d] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[e] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
My mixer story
It started a few months ago when I began to learn to bake. Because kitchen isn't my favourite place in the house, I have never bought any cooking/baking equipment, and therefore I didn't have any mixer. A friend was nice enough to lend me a hand mixer, and it was good for some of the simple stuffs I did, but it just wasn't strong enough to mix other stuffs. So I started thinking about buying a mixer.
Now... I know I am not an expert, and I probably only bake once a month or when I happen to have lots of spare time, but having been brainwashed by Masterchef and a lot of cooking/baking shows, I really wanted to buy a good mixer. For those who are baking experts, you'd know that good mixers are NOT cheap!!! One of the top brand is KitchenAid, and they start from around $500 and that's a lot of money to spend on a mixer! I didn't really want to spend that kinda money knowing I might not bake often enough. So I started checking out mixers in the common retail stores, and they start from about $100 ish for a basic one. Finally I decided that I'm going to wait for my bday and try to get a decent $2-300 one as a pressie.
In the mean time, I found another item to go on my Wishlist, an ipad :-)
So lately I've been torn between the two. Should I get a mixer? or an iPad?
Funnily enough, a friend of mine all of a sudden asked me if I want to buy a good secondhand mixer for $35! What a good timing???!!!!! So of course I grabbed it straight away.
Sometimes it's the little thing like this that makes me smile, and I haven't forgotten to say thank you to my great daddy in heaven, because I believe that He answers prayers... as big as curing a cancer to as small as giving me a mixer! LOL. I also think that out of anyone in this world, including myself, He knows me very well, and so according to our needs He provides us with everthing we need and desire.
Ephesians 3:20
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Monday, July 18, 2011
I'm sorry...
Being a follower of Jesus is not that easy. Following the words of God and the standard of His holiness is definitely not easy. Sometimes we need to make a lot of sacrifices and deny the desires of our flesh in order to live a life that's pleasing to God.
I've made the decision to live right for God. To live according to His words, pleasing to His eyes. I have had to make that decision again and again, over 100 times in the past 30 years, just because I kept falling into the trap of sin, the trap of the devil. But I'm glad I keep making that decision again and again, because success is getting up again after a fall, and not giving up and giving in to the sinful desires of our flesh.
Sometimes that decision involves others. Those who might be close to our hearts. Those whom to a certain extent, have been there for us. Those who understood what we went through, the thick and thin. But often, it could be those who are also our 'partners in crime'.
The decision to leave our old lives, to close a chapter of our lives, and to start all over again, often involves leaving others and hurting others. But it's give and take. What are you willing to give up in order to gain a bigger and greater purpose of life? What are you willing to give up to experience the extraordinary life God's planned for you before the earth begins? What are you willing to give up for rewards which we can enjoy for eternity?
Sometimes this decision may offend others. They may accuse us of being snobbish and arrogant, or 'too religious' or 'too good' for them. I can only understand where they're coming from, but it's not going to change my decision to leave my old life behind and start a new chapter. Although it means leaving them behind... in the old chapter.
I am not created to please people. I am not created to please myself. I am created for a bigger and greater purpose for His kingdom. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because I don't want Christ to be ashamed of me. So if I have offended and hurt others, I am trully sorry. But I think one day the time will come, when you encounter the almighty God who then change your heart and give you the passion of His heart. Then one day you'll understand some of my decisions.
I've made the decision to live right for God. To live according to His words, pleasing to His eyes. I have had to make that decision again and again, over 100 times in the past 30 years, just because I kept falling into the trap of sin, the trap of the devil. But I'm glad I keep making that decision again and again, because success is getting up again after a fall, and not giving up and giving in to the sinful desires of our flesh.
Sometimes that decision involves others. Those who might be close to our hearts. Those whom to a certain extent, have been there for us. Those who understood what we went through, the thick and thin. But often, it could be those who are also our 'partners in crime'.
The decision to leave our old lives, to close a chapter of our lives, and to start all over again, often involves leaving others and hurting others. But it's give and take. What are you willing to give up in order to gain a bigger and greater purpose of life? What are you willing to give up to experience the extraordinary life God's planned for you before the earth begins? What are you willing to give up for rewards which we can enjoy for eternity?
Sometimes this decision may offend others. They may accuse us of being snobbish and arrogant, or 'too religious' or 'too good' for them. I can only understand where they're coming from, but it's not going to change my decision to leave my old life behind and start a new chapter. Although it means leaving them behind... in the old chapter.
I am not created to please people. I am not created to please myself. I am created for a bigger and greater purpose for His kingdom. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because I don't want Christ to be ashamed of me. So if I have offended and hurt others, I am trully sorry. But I think one day the time will come, when you encounter the almighty God who then change your heart and give you the passion of His heart. Then one day you'll understand some of my decisions.
1 John 1
Walk in the Light
5This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him.
6-7If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth—we're not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin.
8-10If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we've never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Axe it 5 times a day, the tree will fall.
One of the speakers in Hillsong Conference is John Maxwell. He is a world known speaker, coach and writer on leadership. He mentors some of the world's largest companies like Google and Microsoft. If you have never heard of him, I suggest you check his stuffs out. They're really good.
In the conference, Maxwell gave us a few leadership principals, and one of them is that leaders should invest in themselves, and invest in what their good at. If you don't invest in yourself and in your key strenghts, what do you have to offer to others? How are you going to lead and help others develop their strenghts?
At the end of the day God will not hold you accountable for the gifts you didnt get, but He will hold you accountable for the gifts He did give you.
The other principle is... that if you hit a tree with an axe, just 5 times a day every single day, after a period of time, the tree will eventually fall down. There's no question about it. Bigger tree will take longer, smaller tree will go down faster, but eventually each will fall. Just 5 times a day, daily. It's all about building good habits.
In his example, Maxwell is a great writer... and he's a successful writer because everyday he reads, think about what he reads, he files his findings, and he writes. Every single day: he reads, thinks, files and writes. Read, think, file and write. Read, think, file and write.
It makes me think about developing my God given strengths and think about some of the things I will commit to do daily to develop my strengths. At the moment I think I'm gifted in in writing. I've loved writing since a very young age, but it's only since I've published article type blog entries that people tell me that I'm quite good at writing. I thought everybody can write. I thought it's easy for everybody to simply express their thoughts and feelings on a piece of paper, or well... type it up, but apparently it's not. For some people, they can't even articulate their thoughts and feelings in a way that others can understand, let alone write them down. So then I realise that writing is one of my gifts, and I need to keep using it to build up others.
I know it will take sometime, but I'm committed to read more, to listen more to audio preaching, to read the bible one passage a day, think and reflect about it, and just use my spare time to write and write and write. Sometimes I might write about nothing, other days I might write something really encouraging. I dont know, but I just want to start somewhere, and continue to use my gifts to encourage others.
How about you?
What comes naturally to you?
What can you do daily to sharpen your strenghts?
It might take you some time to figure this out... but I just wanna encourage you to think and reflect about this, and build a good habit that will strenghten your God given skills and talents to build and encourage others.
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