Proverbs 18:16
A man’s gift makes room for him,And brings him before great men.
Do what you are Good at,
Excel in what you Do,
Grow in what you Excel.
BE,
A fish that swim in the water,
A Jarguer that runs on land,
A Monkey that climbs tree,
A Eagle that soar.
DON'T BE,
A fish that try to walk on land,
A Jarguer that try to take off from ground,
A eagle that climb tree,
A Monkey that swims.
Sound ridiculous? But that's what many of us are doing....
But why?
1) Fearful of others' opinion about you.
2) Envy of what others have.
(Note: Having desires are good. But envies are bad. Desires simply means you want something better but at the same time you are contented and give thanks as to what you have now. Envy is when you are constantly wanting what others have but never happy nor thank God for what he has given you.)
3) The grass looks greener on the other side.
4) Don't dare to be truthful to yourself
You live only once. Be honest to yourself, be a blessing to others and most importantly be faithful to what your Creator has deposited in you. No one gift is greater than another gift. Gifts from God are never meant for you to compare, but it's for you to be thankful to God and be responsible to grow this gifts and use them to bless others.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Who Do You Say I Am??
Just had a good fellowship with yapster for lunch at the coffeeshop nearby my place. Yapster had come all the way from Toa Payoh to Pasir Ris just to meet me. And what make this fellowship so precious was that he travelled all the way down by MRT and bus, not by car which I initially thought so. I really enjoyed my time with him. We ate and share about our lives as Christian, after which I introduce him to the beautiful and friendly neighbourhood of Pasir Ris. We parted after that but it was really a fellowship that I enjoyed. Like what I'd told Jack last week, that with all honesty, what I look forward to during service and cell group days are really the fellowship.
Back to the fellowship, bible says when two or three gather in His name, Jesus will be in our mist and this prove to be so truth. Every time I fellowship with Christians, there will bound to be revelation. This time round it was also true. We were sharing about the different trademark of the christian from the various church that we had come across. We concluded that Christians from Lighthouse are very good in healing, while christians from New Creation Church(NCC) are very good at receiving blessings from God. These conclusions are not unfounded. Recently a colleague shared; Mr. Kah, shared with us that he knows of this Christian from NCC. This brother from NCC is super rich, a multi-millionaire and he attributes every blessing to God and always very thankful towards God. However he live a very promiscious life and cheated in his business but yet he is always prospering. On the other hand, for the last few nights I had been fellowshipping with some Christians from Lighthouse and they shared countless of healing testimonies. Wow!! It was like miracles after miracles as if a Bennyhinn crusade is ongoing on every weekly service and cell group. Just as bible says, as a man think so he is. How true this verse is.
At that very instant, as we were sharing about the trademark of the Christians from different churches, suddenly I begin to understand Jesus's conversation with Peter in Matthew 16:13-17.
13When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
So often as Christians, we defined Jesus by that one unqiue and life changing experience/encounter we had with Jesus. For example, a person that is dying and miraculously healed by Jesus will say that Jesus is his/her healer and whenever they share with others about Jesus, they declare and potray a picture of God IS a Healer. On the other hand, a person that is on a point of bankruptcy and miraculously saved by Jesus of His bankruptcy and became so prosperous will testify that Jesus is his/her Blesser. I guess this is what Jesus mean when he say flesh and blood in verse 17. We define and conclude who Jesus is by that one life changing encounter. After which we go around testifying of Jesus like what those people in verse 14 did. However, this is and will never be a complete picture of who Jesus is. Jesus wants us to know Him in totality, not just in parts. That's why when Simon Peter said that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God,it was such a powerful knowing and truth that Jesus declare this, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." It was after this declaration that Jesus goes on to say 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed[d] in heaven.”
The fullness of living a victorious Christian life is a result of knowing who really Jesus is (by communion with the Holy Spirit-Relationship) and not by that one life changing encounter. A life changing experience is for that Kiaros time, Jesus has moved on so we need to. There's so much of God to explore.
Back to the fellowship, bible says when two or three gather in His name, Jesus will be in our mist and this prove to be so truth. Every time I fellowship with Christians, there will bound to be revelation. This time round it was also true. We were sharing about the different trademark of the christian from the various church that we had come across. We concluded that Christians from Lighthouse are very good in healing, while christians from New Creation Church(NCC) are very good at receiving blessings from God. These conclusions are not unfounded. Recently a colleague shared; Mr. Kah, shared with us that he knows of this Christian from NCC. This brother from NCC is super rich, a multi-millionaire and he attributes every blessing to God and always very thankful towards God. However he live a very promiscious life and cheated in his business but yet he is always prospering. On the other hand, for the last few nights I had been fellowshipping with some Christians from Lighthouse and they shared countless of healing testimonies. Wow!! It was like miracles after miracles as if a Bennyhinn crusade is ongoing on every weekly service and cell group. Just as bible says, as a man think so he is. How true this verse is.
At that very instant, as we were sharing about the trademark of the Christians from different churches, suddenly I begin to understand Jesus's conversation with Peter in Matthew 16:13-17.
13When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
So often as Christians, we defined Jesus by that one unqiue and life changing experience/encounter we had with Jesus. For example, a person that is dying and miraculously healed by Jesus will say that Jesus is his/her healer and whenever they share with others about Jesus, they declare and potray a picture of God IS a Healer. On the other hand, a person that is on a point of bankruptcy and miraculously saved by Jesus of His bankruptcy and became so prosperous will testify that Jesus is his/her Blesser. I guess this is what Jesus mean when he say flesh and blood in verse 17. We define and conclude who Jesus is by that one life changing encounter. After which we go around testifying of Jesus like what those people in verse 14 did. However, this is and will never be a complete picture of who Jesus is. Jesus wants us to know Him in totality, not just in parts. That's why when Simon Peter said that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God,it was such a powerful knowing and truth that Jesus declare this, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." It was after this declaration that Jesus goes on to say 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed[d] in heaven.”
The fullness of living a victorious Christian life is a result of knowing who really Jesus is (by communion with the Holy Spirit-Relationship) and not by that one life changing encounter. A life changing experience is for that Kiaros time, Jesus has moved on so we need to. There's so much of God to explore.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
How Long Have You Been Unbelieving??!
Mark 9:20-27
"Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,[a] all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose"
This was our offering message for tonight. As Eugene was reading through this account in the bible about how Jesus healed a boy, I was particularly captured by the two sentences that Jesus asked the father of this boy (as you can see in red above). What stuck me was that instead of asking what is the cause of the boy's condition, Jesus's first question/sentence was "how long have this been happening?" and the second time Jesus spoke was " If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." To sum up this two sentences, Jesus is asking the boy's father, "how long have you been unbelieving?" WOW!!! What a powerful question that reveals the condition of our heart!!
At certain point of time in life there will be doubts in our heart towards the promises of God. The question that Jesus was asking in this incident was not why do you doubt. Jesus wasn't even asking what or who is the cause of this boy's suffering. In this context, Jesus was asking something even deeper; a unbelief/doubt that has not been dealt with for a considerable period of time, a unbelief that has been nursing inside his heart for a long time. To Jesus, it's not about finding the cause or who is at fault that matters. To Jesus, every answer/solution to our situation, our career, our finances, our relationship, lies in whether do we believe in the word of God. Finally the father of this boy decided to take responsibility over his heart condition. He decided to stop running, to stop procrastinating, to stop blaming life itself, to stop blaming others, but to face and deal with the doubts that he had been hiding inside the core of his heart since the boy was young. This was when finally he said enough is enough and came broken before Jesus (v24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears...) and confess to Jesus the condition of his heart(v24b...help my unbelief!) and repent (v24b Lord, I believe....). This was when the breakthrough which all along was his finally come into reality.
"Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,[a] all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose"
This was our offering message for tonight. As Eugene was reading through this account in the bible about how Jesus healed a boy, I was particularly captured by the two sentences that Jesus asked the father of this boy (as you can see in red above). What stuck me was that instead of asking what is the cause of the boy's condition, Jesus's first question/sentence was "how long have this been happening?" and the second time Jesus spoke was " If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." To sum up this two sentences, Jesus is asking the boy's father, "how long have you been unbelieving?" WOW!!! What a powerful question that reveals the condition of our heart!!
At certain point of time in life there will be doubts in our heart towards the promises of God. The question that Jesus was asking in this incident was not why do you doubt. Jesus wasn't even asking what or who is the cause of this boy's suffering. In this context, Jesus was asking something even deeper; a unbelief/doubt that has not been dealt with for a considerable period of time, a unbelief that has been nursing inside his heart for a long time. To Jesus, it's not about finding the cause or who is at fault that matters. To Jesus, every answer/solution to our situation, our career, our finances, our relationship, lies in whether do we believe in the word of God. Finally the father of this boy decided to take responsibility over his heart condition. He decided to stop running, to stop procrastinating, to stop blaming life itself, to stop blaming others, but to face and deal with the doubts that he had been hiding inside the core of his heart since the boy was young. This was when finally he said enough is enough and came broken before Jesus (v24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears...) and confess to Jesus the condition of his heart(v24b...help my unbelief!) and repent (v24b Lord, I believe....). This was when the breakthrough which all along was his finally come into reality.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Beach Volley Ball "Barbecue" Session
Finally our long awaited 30th August has arrived. We woke up early this morning, each making our way from various place; many from home and some from work, to our RV point at Vivocity Level 3 
Sentosa Express ticketing booth. As usual, some of us visited toilet, buy this, buy that and by the time we leave Vivocity, guess what, it is about 12pm. This is slighlty more than 1hr later according to what we had initially planned.
When we reached Siloso beach, there was a sea. Of course not the sea and beach kind of sea,here I'm taking about a sea of people playing volleyball. We thought we might be able to get a volleyball court thinking that we were still early. But alas, there was a volleyball competition going on and out of all the courts, only two were left for public usage. Guess we just have to make do with the beach. Changyan, Gloriane, Stephanie and myself started playing first while Eugene and Eric were making their way here. The sun was blazing hot and the beach was literally scorching our feet. For a split moment, I wonder are all Thaipusum burning Charcoal walkers all volleyball trained? Treading our feet on the beach seems like walking on burning coal...IT'S HOT!!!!
After playing for just about 10 minute (passing volleyball in our circle of 4), I totally entered into a state of "daze". It was so unbearably hot that I decided to call for a time out. To my surprise this time out comes in timely and very much needed as everyone of us is feeling the heat and close to natural combustion. Soon, Eric and Eugene reached and the first thing they head for, a soak into the sea. They were close to their melting point. Somehow most of us felt lethargic due to the heatwave, other than our hearthrob Changyan who's so full of energy and strength. He reminded me of those years when I was younger and hyper active. Likewise he reminded me how far different I had "mutated" over the years.
Back to the beach, the rest of the people started playing and now Stephanie and myself went for a dip in the sea. While we were soaking in the water, Eugene came to us and told us that Eric had gotten a court. Amazing yet nothing amazing. Amazing because Eric is always so resourceful and he click and build rapport with people as easy and natural as us breathing air. Nothing amazing because this is Eric and to him, it's a in born gift of building rapport with anyone, anywhere. They had a match with another team and they won with ease. Why with ease? Because the moment changyan or yongqing serve the ball over, the points are secured without any retaliation...
A tall and lean young man walk up to me and asked me if i recognised him. To be honest, I don't recognised him at all (Yang Yang, if you ever read this, please forgive me). After revealing his identity, I was totally dumbfounded. This person is non other than my long time friend victor's younger brother; Chuen Yang (we have been calling him Yang Yang since his primary school). He has grown from a chubby boy to become such a tall, lean and handsome fine young man and he is currently serving his NS and will ORD this November. Time really flies. Look at him and look at me and you will know what I meant.
Together with Yang Yang and his team, we played Captain ball. Within 10 minute of intensive running, jumping and yelling, both teams were exhausted and we ended the match with Yang Yang's team winning. My team suffered most "damages". Our joints and muscles are giving way and we were totally exhausted. It is at this moment we realised we forgotten that we had left something barbequeing and they were totally burnt!!! They were our bodies. Almost everyone of us were so well barbequed that we resembled lobsters. The person that was most well BBQ was Eugene and followed by both Stephanie and myself. We were in pain.......help....
It's currently 2am 31st August as I'm typing this entry. Stephanie and myself felt asleep at about 930am and we completely knock out after applying Aloe Vera Gel
on our sunburnt body. I woke up at 130am feeling thirsty and went to the kitchen to get a drink, only to remember that I promised Stephanie that I will wake up in the middle of the night to hang up our washed clothes (still washing in the washing machine before we felt asleep). After drinking, I hung up the clothes and here I am writing this entry beside my sleeping Stephanie. She's currently in pain from the sunburn. Once a while when she tossed around on the bed, she will say "Ouch Ouch...". That's all for this entry.
Oh, one last thing, I thought that Eric is very much like Naruto.
Today when I saw him walking alone down towards the sea and standing from afar looking at a group of youth like himself playing with their friends, for that instant, he reminded me of Naruto. If you are a fan of Naruto (like myself), you will know what is precious to Naruto and why this is precious to him, then you will understand why I say Eric reminds me of Naruto.
Sentosa Express ticketing booth. As usual, some of us visited toilet, buy this, buy that and by the time we leave Vivocity, guess what, it is about 12pm. This is slighlty more than 1hr later according to what we had initially planned. When we reached Siloso beach, there was a sea. Of course not the sea and beach kind of sea,here I'm taking about a sea of people playing volleyball. We thought we might be able to get a volleyball court thinking that we were still early. But alas, there was a volleyball competition going on and out of all the courts, only two were left for public usage. Guess we just have to make do with the beach. Changyan, Gloriane, Stephanie and myself started playing first while Eugene and Eric were making their way here. The sun was blazing hot and the beach was literally scorching our feet. For a split moment, I wonder are all Thaipusum burning Charcoal walkers all volleyball trained? Treading our feet on the beach seems like walking on burning coal...IT'S HOT!!!!
After playing for just about 10 minute (passing volleyball in our circle of 4), I totally entered into a state of "daze". It was so unbearably hot that I decided to call for a time out. To my surprise this time out comes in timely and very much needed as everyone of us is feeling the heat and close to natural combustion. Soon, Eric and Eugene reached and the first thing they head for, a soak into the sea. They were close to their melting point. Somehow most of us felt lethargic due to the heatwave, other than our hearthrob Changyan who's so full of energy and strength. He reminded me of those years when I was younger and hyper active. Likewise he reminded me how far different I had "mutated" over the years.
Back to the beach, the rest of the people started playing and now Stephanie and myself went for a dip in the sea. While we were soaking in the water, Eugene came to us and told us that Eric had gotten a court. Amazing yet nothing amazing. Amazing because Eric is always so resourceful and he click and build rapport with people as easy and natural as us breathing air. Nothing amazing because this is Eric and to him, it's a in born gift of building rapport with anyone, anywhere. They had a match with another team and they won with ease. Why with ease? Because the moment changyan or yongqing serve the ball over, the points are secured without any retaliation...
A tall and lean young man walk up to me and asked me if i recognised him. To be honest, I don't recognised him at all (Yang Yang, if you ever read this, please forgive me). After revealing his identity, I was totally dumbfounded. This person is non other than my long time friend victor's younger brother; Chuen Yang (we have been calling him Yang Yang since his primary school). He has grown from a chubby boy to become such a tall, lean and handsome fine young man and he is currently serving his NS and will ORD this November. Time really flies. Look at him and look at me and you will know what I meant.
Together with Yang Yang and his team, we played Captain ball. Within 10 minute of intensive running, jumping and yelling, both teams were exhausted and we ended the match with Yang Yang's team winning. My team suffered most "damages". Our joints and muscles are giving way and we were totally exhausted. It is at this moment we realised we forgotten that we had left something barbequeing and they were totally burnt!!! They were our bodies. Almost everyone of us were so well barbequed that we resembled lobsters. The person that was most well BBQ was Eugene and followed by both Stephanie and myself. We were in pain.......help....
It's currently 2am 31st August as I'm typing this entry. Stephanie and myself felt asleep at about 930am and we completely knock out after applying Aloe Vera Gel
on our sunburnt body. I woke up at 130am feeling thirsty and went to the kitchen to get a drink, only to remember that I promised Stephanie that I will wake up in the middle of the night to hang up our washed clothes (still washing in the washing machine before we felt asleep). After drinking, I hung up the clothes and here I am writing this entry beside my sleeping Stephanie. She's currently in pain from the sunburn. Once a while when she tossed around on the bed, she will say "Ouch Ouch...". That's all for this entry.Oh, one last thing, I thought that Eric is very much like Naruto.
Today when I saw him walking alone down towards the sea and standing from afar looking at a group of youth like himself playing with their friends, for that instant, he reminded me of Naruto. If you are a fan of Naruto (like myself), you will know what is precious to Naruto and why this is precious to him, then you will understand why I say Eric reminds me of Naruto.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Reading Books is Linked to Vision and Dreams
Like I had mentioned in my previous entry, that I was never a reader until this year. Eugene once mentioned to me that a leader is a reader. A leader is one who lead his people with a vision. Visions are not meant for the lazy mind and reading is never for the lazy mind. I begin to see why. Just as much as I was never a reader, I was very much a TV couch potato and even till now, I must admit that I still am. Thank God for TV and TV programs.
However recently I had a revelation regarding why a leader is a reader but you never hear anyone say that a leader is a TV couch potato. Interesting yah? I begin to understand that reading unlike watching TV, tapped into our realm of imagination. When we read, what appears before our eyes are simply words, words and more words. There's no instant pictures or graphics and as we read, subconsciously we begin to form images in our mind. As time goes on, our mind are trained to visualised and we become discipline in "containing" the image that we desires to see. Just like working out our arms' muscle, likewise we are working on our brain muscle. As these brain muscles get stronger, we become more of a visionary.
On contrary, what pops out of a TV box are ready images that enters through our eyes and right into our mind. Without any need for us to activate our imagination, we constantly just feed on whatever images that are fed to us. This is comparable to us opening up our mouth and someone keep feeding us with food. There's no need for us to work out in any aspect and we become the passive recipient. prolong repetition of such passiveness causes our mind to be lazy in visualising. We move from visionary to become vision-no-more. We move from hearing/seeing the language of the Holy Spirit (which is visions and dreams) to finally receive hand-out from the world. Instead of tapping into the fourth dimension to change our third dimension, we are stuck in our third dimension. Talking about manhood, now I begin to see the damage pornography has on our man today such that it totally block off the language of the Holy Spirit and in turn, replace these God given visions with perverted visions that totally plunge man into a lazy state of mind. Now I begin to realised why bible is a book, not a tape, not a comics...haha...
Start being a reader if you are not yet. Read!!! But be wise in the choice of book you are reading.
Disclaimer: In my own opinion, watching TV is still very necessary. Personally some information such as those from Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, etc I still prefer receiving them from TV.
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