Sunday, August 16, 2009

Life is a four letter word !

"Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead,focus on what to do next,Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer;"

- Dennis Waitley



Quite often we are haunted by the past, of how, perhaps we should have done things differently,Of how things went wrong. How confusing times can be. We sometimes go..."If only...."

In Phillipians 3 verse 13, St Paul says: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.

Look forward..!

A friend of mine once said (thanks David Liu) that Life is a Four letter word.

Its EASY! Life is EASY! remember the song.." 'coz I'm easy...easy like Sunday Morning"?.. well, It is easy!.when you look forward, look to Christ!

LIFE is a four letter word! EASY!

The Gospel of St Mathew chapter 12 verses 28 to 30:

"COME UNTO ME ALL YE THAT LABOUR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

Take my yoke upon you,and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is EASY and my burden light."

Look forward with ease forget about the past.

Christ says "come unto me" look forward... as Peter did.

Walk in a water? a cinch..as long as we look forward to Christ and do not look back.

Looking forward there is no fear There are only blessings in Christ.

ECCLESIASTES 5: 19,20

Every Man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and had given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion,and to rejoice in his labour ; this is the gift of God.

For he shall not much remember the days of his life;because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.

LIFE is indeed a four letter word.

LIFE is EASY..in Christ, Look forward !

'coz its easy ...easy like Sunday Morning'...

P.S
1.Inspired to write again by Dr Victor Chen and Y.A Dato' Mary..Many thanks for getting me off my butt.
2.Inspired by the song...easy like Sunday morning... by Lionel Ritchie
3. Inspired by the holy Spirit for the material provided.

Thank you

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Promises...promises.

"A good man is not a perfect man; a good man is an honest man,faithful and unhesitatingly responsive to the voice of God in his life." -John Fisher


We all search for perfect partners but inevitably end up with much less.In most circumstances, we can either choose to make the best of it or give up. Likewise we expect to have perfect children but usually end up with well almost but not quite perfect.

Have you ever wondered,why on only a couple or maybe three occasions, you make a promise to God in the presence of the church?

When you get married, dedicate a child and get bapised, you make a contract with God in the presence of the people.These are covenants

You make a vow to God in front of witnesses (the church).

This clearly shows that these events are the most significant events in the mind of God concerning us.

Why?

When we get married, we make a commitment to another to love, honour and cherish the other in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer till death do us part.

Well, yes that is the promise that we made.

Have we kept that promise? probably not.

We, myself included, are guilty of taking our partners for granted of not taking a step back and looking for the good that is in them, that we saw in the first instance.

It's easier for our conscience to focus on their shortcomings. In that way we somehow feel justified in our opinion of them. Its always more convenient to be the victim in a perceived tragedy.

Lets be honest,our partner was and will never be perfect.that's not the point.

The point is that.it is the relationship that is relevent.

In this regard, it is the promise that we made to love, honour and cherish the other that is the key.

It must be reciprocated, as they say, it takes two to tango.

Likewise, when we dedicate/consecrate a child to God,we make a promise to bring up the child in the way of God, to teach,guide and nurture the child to be a good and responsible adult.

Yet how much time do we spend with our children? do we take time to talk to them or do we talk at them?Do we nurture their spiritual growth? How do we conduct ourselves?Are we examples for them to follow.

Are we keeping our promise?

We make our other contract with God; directly, in the presence of the Church when we are baptised.

We promise that we confess our sins we have repented and we dedicate our lives to God and his ways.Here we acknowledge God as our father and he accepts that we are his. He sends us his gift of his holy spirit to nurture and guide us.It is our commitment with God.Our acknowledgement of him.

why is this important?

Because these three events dominate every aspect of our lives from birth to death which is the essence of our very being to be better human beings.To be signifcant in the whole scheme of things.

If everyone kept these promises that we made with God to a tee, we would have perfect lives, the world would indeed be a better place

Most importantly, we would enjoy the blessings of such relationship, the blessings of love and prosperity in abundance.

Where do we start?

Not to pray that God must change others around us,

But to pray for God to change us first.

For God to change OUR ways, to be closer to him,to grant US, patience, tolerance, meekness, humility, loving kindness, forgiveness and faith

To care, To share.

If we let God change us for the better, our perception of the world and people around us will change too.For the better.We will live more meaningful and fulfilling lives.

Our relationships are what we make of them.

Love one and other that is our promise to God and Gods commandment to us.

Lest we forget he loves us with an everlasting love despite our shortcomings and he forgives us, remembering our shortcomings no more. Can we do the same ? love, forgive and forget?

Why not? Don't forget, God has given us abundance of grace.

"God never promises to remove us from our struggles,He does promise,however to change the way we look at them."- Max Lucado

some verses:

Isiah 24:5

"The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws,changed the ordinance,broken the everlasting covenant."

Isiah 55:3

"Incline your ear and come unto me: hear,and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you..."

Isiah 54:10

"For the mountains shall depart,and the hills removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

Amen

At the end of the day,...was it worth it?

"The Measure of a life after all, is not its duration but its donation"- Corrie ten Boom

"It matters not how a man dies but how he lives" - Samuel Jackson


Have you noticed how there are some people in life who, if you looked at their life, looks like the aftermath of a tornado. A trail of destruction.

Then there are some who are "builders" who help,who contribute,who share, who love who create and enhance the lives of others through themselves.

At the end of our lives, when we look back , We must have done enough to say our life was worth living,that our being born was not a waste, that indeed, we made a difference.

If we cant say that we made even the slightest difference, then with respect, our lives would have been an utter waste.

Its all well and good to make our weekly appearance in church but fail to make a difference in a day.

If we consider our words, to encourage others, to find something positive to say about or to someone.,to carefully choose our words and works in this regard everyday in itself is a lot.

You will be surprised at the effect of these simple words and how it can and will change the lives of others

If we can do more with deeds, it would be better.

The person who gave up his simple supper of five loaves and two fishes was the catalyst of the miracle for the five thousand that were fed. read -Mathew chapter 14,verses 15 -21.

Our usual excuse is that we don't have enough time.

It may ease our conscience, for example to give a few coins to a beggar or send a cheque to a charity. Is that enough?

How many of us would be prepared to go to a home foer abandoned or 'special' children and spend half a day there.?How many of us would celebrate our birthdays there? how many of us would spend a little time with someone who needs a friend or some comfort, advice, love or care.

Could we have made that phone call, could we have paid that compliment,could we have said I love you... and meant it.could we have spent some time...

We are what we do and say, how we carry ourselves.

We have chances everyday to make a difference in a simple way.

Its the simple things that count.

At the end of the day, our lives must have been worth living...that's our true value.

Lets be remembered as a "builder and not a destroyer"


A few verses,

Matthew 5, 14-16:

14."Ye are the light of the world.A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

15.Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel,but on a candlestick :and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16.Let your light so shine before men,that ye may see your good works,and glorify your father which is in heaven."

Amen.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Don't Worry Be Happy

There is nothing like a good crisis to increase my energy and remind me how much I need God.- Anne Christian Buchanan

“fear not” is the most repeated command in all of Scripture. Of everything commanded by God, the prophets, the apostles, angels, and others, “fear not” shows up more often than anything else. This communicates at least two very important things. First, the most common human condition is something like fear and anxiety. And second, it is the emotion or reaction to life that is least warranted for we belong to him.

Is there a more compelling and powerful verse than "I have called the by thy name and thou art mine"?

God created us in our mother's womb and he loves us with an "evelasting love"

God is the most powerful entity ever what have we to fear?

God just does not give us the command without any support behind it, He tells us why we should not be afraid. He says in verse 11, “For I am with you to save you.” “I am with you”:

those have to be the four most encouraging words in Scripture.


A few verses..

Isiah 43:1

Fear not.for I have redeemed thee..I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.

Jeremiah 31:3

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee

Jeremiah 18:16

Behold as the clay is in the potters hand so are ye in mine

Isiah 49: 16

Behold I have inscribed thee in the palms of my hand

Isiah 44:2

Thou art my servant I have formed thee ... thou shalt not be forgotten of me

Isiah43:10

Ye are my witness saith the Lord and my servant whom I have chosen that ye may know and believe in me and understand that I am he.

Isiah43: 11

I,even I am the Lord and beside me there is no savior

Isiah 43:2

When thou passeth through they shall not overflow thee,when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame be kindled upon thee.

Isiah 43:5

Fear not for I am with thee

Isiah 44:

Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb which shall help thee.Fear not

Jeremiah 30:11

Therefore fear not thou neither be dismayed

Rev 2:10 fear none of these things that thou shalt suffer

Jeremiah 30:11

for I am with thee to save thee

Isiah 51:16

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and of good courage,fear not nor be afraid..for the Lord thy God he that go with thee he will not fail the nor forsake thee

Gen 26:10

fear not for I am with thee I will bless thee...

Friday, February 13, 2009

Faith

Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable and receives the impossible - Corrie ten Boom

The strange thing about faith that I discovered is that it is derived from the grace of God and not so much by our own devices.

It can be lost and regained.

There was a time when I lost my faith.

Being a Lawyer, by nature I'm drawn to logic based on evidence and hard facts.

Based on logic and proven fact, I came to the conclusion that most of what is in the Bible is hearsay, created after the event and consequently, inherently unreliable

The day I made that conclusion ( January 2005) ,my life changed completely. There was an unexplainable void an emptiness, a blank.

The next day,things happened that completely changed my perfect life up to then for the worse.

Events beyond my control dictated that I would lose everything that mattered to me, a perfect disaster, a life in shambles, a cul de sac of horror.

I felt a fear that I had never felt before.

It took a while, lots of prayer by loved ones before I started believing again. Eventually the miracle happened the unbelievable an incident, where irrefutable divine intervention saved the day.

With a thankful heart I returned to the Lord.

I then realised....( about my conclusion of the Bible )

That God is almighty, If he wanted to, he could talk to me through a cookbook.So it really was irrelevant whether the Bible is factually corrector not, If God wanted to speak to me through it he was going to anyway.

What is important is that God has chosen this book, the Bible, to speak to us regardless of its perceived lack of evidential factual reliability.It is up to us to chose to believe.

The same can be said of God.That is faith.

Just look around us, one can't fail to notice the hand of God, his grace, his goodness.

People say there is no God for there is hunger war and cruelty.

The facts speak for themselves. The earth was created perfect and self sustainable to provide every human need.

Hunger? Poverty? The USA and Europe just set out stimulus packages in excess of 5 trillion USD. Divide that sum with the approximately 5 billion human beings on earth, you eradicate poverty.Besides, 90% of famine is the result of war self inflicted by humans.

Drought, pestilence, natural disasters? try climate change due to pollution.

sickness? 99.99 % of all illnesses are attributable to the environment that we have polluted and what we have physically consumed directly or indirectly through a genetic pass through.

cruelty? that's entirely down to us, not God.

The solution to all of the above is very simple.

"Love thy neighbour as thyself".

If every body did that, we would have no hunger because everyone would share,

There would be no war as we would settle our differences by understanding each other, etc.

I rest my case my Lord

Thus the simple commandment of God is the solution of all problems premised first on loving God with all our heart mind and soul.

The solution to your problem? ..... an impossible? unbelievable? invisible.....

Have faith.you have nothing to lose.

Romans 10 ;17 "So then faith cometh by hearing,and hearing by the Word of GOD"

1st Corinthians 2:9 "your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the POWER OF GOD!"

Galatians 5.6 "...Faith ...worketh by LOVE "

Mathew 17:20"...If you have faith the size of a mustard seed...NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO YOU"



Amen, all glory and honour be to God.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

typo, apologies

Reference was made to the book of second Samuel and not second chapter of Samuel in the prior blog.

Thank you

Being Human

Being human, being ourselves shouldn't mean that we are prima facie sinners.

We were built this way. Anger, jealousy, covetousness etc are inbuilt. Proof? Take two babies, put them in a room, give one a lollipop and see what the other does.Inevitably, the other child will exhibit these traits.

People call it original sin. I'd like to think that they were in built mechanisms to protect the human race from each other and from outside threats.

Does it mean that God will have nothing to do with us? Quite the contrary,By his grace Jesus Christ has saved us from ourselves. Just because we consider ourselves to be sinners of varying degree shouldn't mean that we should shy away from God or the church or be afraid to share our views on God.

God cares for and loves us just the same.Just because we are prone to screwing up doesn't mean God will or has abandoned us.

If one reads the second chapter of the book of Samuel in the Bible,one will note that King David screwed up on many an occasion to the extent that it was written that "God was displeased" yet throughout, he was faithful to God and acknowledged him in everything.

Through his many "screw ups" God showed King David his Divine purpose, to bring peace to his people,which eventually David accomplished. At the end,God praised David as his beloved servant.

GOD LOVES US for being who we are. God's plan for us is PERFECT even though, right now,we don't know what it is or believe ourselves incapable. Yes, we're only human, Yet we are an important piece in the heavenly scheme of things. God knows and believes that we can suceed because he has given us his grace, now its all up to us...we only need to believe.


Footnote:I did not feel qualified to write this but was urged to do so by the spirit.

All glory and honour to God.