When Life Happens...

(personal blog post)

I know I haven't been posting. Life happens, work piles up, time slips away and I end each day tired and unsatisfied. Not with God, but with what little I have managed to do each day. Distracted, frustrated and worn out.

Genesis 50:20 (NASB) - As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

Nope, I haven't been struck with delusions of grandeur, thinking the trial I face has epic ramifications. But I do see hope for my future, hope which I did not have before. And it comes from someone trying something bad, thinking that it is a viable threat to force compliance from me. 

And it is amusing. Threatening to leave is bad only if their absence means less good stuff happening, or more bad stuff coming my way. And some people are such losers that their absence means less burden and more room for me to manuever. Such people should not threaten to leave. 

I call their bluff. 

I will not give in. Now what are they going to do? They have to either leave (and show that their "threat" was real) or back down (and lose face, as i will certainly rub it in). It is such a relief, I finally feel released from obligations that were imposed on me through responsibilities and (dare I admit it?) guilt. And freedom feels strange, but good... 

What's next? I don't know. Today is my birthday, and I am typing this before I rush off for a day of work (bills don't give me a day off). But I will schedule in time to worship God and pray and seek his face. This I do every day, how much more on my birthday, right? 

God willing, I will post soon, and something that will edify properly. Be blessed!

When God Offends You

Looking back, I realized that my university days were when I was the most zealous for Jesus.

I would spend hours in the Bible, prayer and personal worship. I was active in a church worship band, evangelistic concerts and in music lessons, to hone my skills. And I would practice both the piano and the guitar a lot. I wanted skill, and skill that would last, so that I had more to use when serving in the worship ministry.

“Did you get any studying done those days, JJ?” Errr…

Ever since then I have gone down a lot. Life responsibilities, such as work and family, make me more like a normal Christian, who has to be seriously disciplined to seek God. Practice time is less (ironic for a music teacher, right?) so I have to make the best use of whatever little practice time I have.

Now I could be disappointed. Given the amount of zeal I had in those days, I was expecting that I would be a hard-core, effective servant of the LORD, teaching the Word and being used in healing the sick and all that kind of stuff. But even though I am nowhere near what I dreamed of in my university days, at least I am still walking with God. He has been holding on to me all these years.

And I am grateful!

Not all the people I knew from those days are still walking with the Lord. A few have fallen and are no longer serving God or walking with him.

And it bugs me. I remember looking at them, seeing how different they were from me in terms of personality and giftings, and yet sharing the same purpose: Glorify Jesus with whatever we had and in everything we could do. I was thinking things could only get better, and we would, working together but in our own unique ways, keep on serving God, achieving more and winning our nation for Christ.  

Then offences struck. And people stumbled.

Offences can come from men

Luke 17:1-2 (KJV) - Then said he unto the disciples, “It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.               

People in church can offend you. And to get a sense of what kind of offence we are talking about, the word used for “offences” is the Greek word from which we derive the word “scandal” from. It means to trip up, to stumble or entice to sin. Jesus said that it WILL happen.

Knowing that it will happen is our best defence. When we know that it will happen, we will not lose our faith just because people in church fail us. Guess what? If we set our hopes on people, rather than on the LORD, they will disappoint us.

Psalm 118:8-9 (ESV) - It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

So people disappointing us is no excuse. So what if your pastor is a hypocrite? So what? So what if your church people don’t love you as God commanded them to? So what? I mean, if love was so easy, God wouldn’t need to admonish us to love one another, right? Obviously, divine love is not nature to us in our fallen nature. Did God ever promise us that the rest of the believers will love us properly, as he desires? I don’t think so. So why let yourself be stumbled just because people in church let you down?

Offences can come from God

John 6:61-62 (ESV) - But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

 

Again the same Greek word for offense appears. In effect, Jesus is saying, “Does this scandalize you? I am still holding back. You ain’t seen nothing yet!” Jesus then delivered his doctrinal bombshell.

John 6:65-66 (ESV) - And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

 

Maybe it won’t be salvation doctrine that offends you. How about the way God forgives and blesses sinners?
 

Luke 15:29-30 (ESV) – 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'

 

When the Gospel, preached in its entirety, offends, some people turn away from God entirely. Sometimes they go doctrine shopping, looking for a church, religion or philosophy that excuses their pet sins or justifies their beliefs and preferences.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 (ESV) - For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

 

How do we hold firm when God himself offends us?
 

John 6:67-69 (ESV) – So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

 

Jesus has the words of eternal life, which means they cause us to know God, to perceive and be sure of him (John 17:3). His words are Spirit and they are life (John 6:63). But they are no benefit to us unless we actually let his words abide in us (John 15:7). We need to actual taste and experience God’s goodness (Psalm 34:8), especially through the Word (Hebrews 6:5). We start by believing that Jesus is the Holy One of God, then when we grow in our experience of his Word and his goodness in our lives, we end up knowing for sure.

My Faith Crash

I had a massive faith crash years ago.

It was so painful. I was experiencing the presence of God in worship and the Word. I had answered prayers and many significant signs that hinted that I was on the right track. I was returning back to serving God in ministry, and re-discovering the joy of setting my hand to the plough for the Kingdom of God and being fruitful in ministry.

And then the crash came. What I prayed to God earnestly for, I did not get. Even worse, I got the opposite of what I really believed God would give me. He brought me so far, why would he not complete it, right? I clung on in prayer, stayed faithful in ministry and in my own personal time of seeking God, and continued to experience his presence and even answered prayers.

Yes, God continued give me what I asked for. Except for what I wanted the most, desired the most and had reasons to expect the most. For this part of my life I still have no answers, no resolution, no completion. I cannot come up with some spiritual-sounding lesson and say that I now understand why God did things that way during that season. I still don’t.

So what do I have? I still have God with me. Nudging me forward when I totally doubt that he was going to lead me where I am supposed to go. Answering prayers still. Meeting with me in my own personal prayer and worship time still. There is just only one matter, over which I wanted nothing but his will, worked out his way. And when I had finally come to believe I knew what it was, and that I was going to receive it, I didn’t get it. And the shame still remains. Did I ask God for the wrong thing? If so, how could I have missed it so badly?

Isaiah 54:4 (ESV) - Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

What kept me going? It was the eternal life of God. It was continuing to experience God, even when in one matter I was disappointed. I did get one lesson I can share from that season though: You don’t need trust when someone does what you understand. You need trust when that someone is doing a whole lot of things you don’t understand. That is when you have to decide if you will trust that the person knows what he or she is doing, and has your best interests at heart.

And when it comes to people, your trust can be misplaced. But not with God. He has shown his faithfulness to me many times before and many times ever since. Will I stumble and be offended with God over one matter, or will I look at his past faithfulness and trust, even when I don’t understand? 

Conclusion:

I know this is really long, and I have shared some personal stuff. But I hope that some of what I shared here will be useful to you or to those around you, who are struggling with God offending them. Be blessed!

My Sons are Taken Care Of!

Working in a law firm makes the realities of day-to-day living even more real for me.

If I only taught music, I would seldom come across the harsh side of life, such as joblessness, serious illness and death. Wisdom tells us to be aware of these realities and prepare for them. We are to give thought to estate planning, to ensure we leave a good inheritance to our children (Proverbs 13:22) and to prepare at least one alternative income channel (Proverbs 27:23-24) in case of financial reversals (job loss or economic downturns).

But sometimes life hits us when we are unprepared. Take the example of the widow who approached Elisha in the following passage.

2 Kings 4:1-2 (ESV) – Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves." And Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?" And she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil."

We see in this situation a devout man, who maybe wasn’t as careful with his money as he ought to have been, or may have been cut down in the prime of his life through sickness. You think such things don’t happen to godly people? Go have a heart-to-heart chat with your pastor and you will find out the truth. It is one thing that I don’t think I will ever understand this side of heaven, how mighty men of God, some greatly used by God to bring healing miracles to others, can sometimes die of illness too. 

So when human effort fails us, does God leave us to our own devices? Or does he intervene to help his people and show us mercy?

2 Kings 4:3-7 (ESV) – Then he said, "Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside." So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another." Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest."

It is easy for me to get this miracle by Elisha mixed up with the one by Elijah, when he met the widow of Zarephath, described in 1 Kings 17:9-15. In a nutshell, God directed Elijah to Zarephath, where he met a starving widow who only had enough for one meal. She gave a small portion of it to Elijah, and God multiplied the rest to last them for the rest of the famine.

As a Word-of-Faith person, I saw in that account Elijah teaching the widow to use the law of sowing and reaping for her benefit. She sowed a token amount of food into Elijah’s life, and she received enough food to sustain her son and herself for possibly two to three years.

But the widow in Elisha’s case received a lot more than that. She received enough for her sons and her to not only pay off debts but even last until her sons grew up and started working. The Bible doesn’t give us the details, but I would not be surprised if this provision miracle was at least twice as rich and twice as long in duration as the one given to the widow of Zarephath.

Why did this disparity? I personally believe it is because of the difference in the seed sown. The widow of Zarephath sowed a token amount of food to a man of God. The prophet who died before his time sowed his life to seeking God. He feared the LORD and lived in a community of people who sought the LORD too.

And the issue of community is very important. We are not called by God to seek him by ourselves. We are to live in community with other believers, knowing that we can mature only in fellowship with other believers…

Ephesians 4:15-17 (ESV) - speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

And that also means being willing to supply the needs of other believers also.

Ephesians 4:28 (ESV) -  Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

The connection between sharing with others and receiving provision is clearly stated in the following verse.

2 Corinthians 8:14 (ESV) - your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness.

This is a verse that does not get preached about very much. Think about it. The lazy, who want to find ways to sponge off others, want verses that tell them that they can expect to receive money without having to labour for it and without having  to sow financially into the lives of others first. The diligent who are prosperous and giving to church and the poor don’t want to hear that someday they may lose the material possessions they have laboured for and have to depend on the generosity and kindness of others

How often do you find a verse that manages to offend two very different groups of people?

Conclusion:

I am not sure what God will speak to you from this passage. For me, however, this is very assuring. I know I live my life as unto the LORD, but I have made financial mistakes before. Frankly, I end up worrying about how to provide for my sons. Will they have to suffer for my mistakes and wrong decisions?

So this account in Scripture tells me that no matter how I may have messed up financially, God is still there. He still has the desire to provide for my sons. And knowing that just gives me the assurance to just keep living my life for serving God. I know that my sons will be taken care of!

And I am also firmly reminded to look for opportunities to give, to sow financially into the lives of others. And I am especially serious about sowing into the bereaved families of servants of God. Like it or not, there will be men and women of God who have given their lives to serving the Lord, but have been taken from this life before their time.  They will leave behind families who need help and it is our role, our responsibility and our privilege to be used by God to supply for their needs.

What then are the lessons in this that God wants you to take to heart? Do share, that I too may be edified and encouraged by your faith. Be blessed!

Lessons from my Day-job

The biggest change to my life this year is working at an office for the mornings during the weekdays. I’m doing paperwork in the conveyancing department of a law firm, which means day in, day out, my mind is on the buying and selling of property.

Not quite the kind of stuff that gets me up in the morning all excited and raring to go, right?

But the interesting thing is that I get to see how differently people behave when it comes buying their homes, often the biggest purchase of their lives. And it IS very interesting, because those who have more money to spend on this and those who have less behave very differently.

For the benefit of the non-Singaporeans reading this, Singapore has a forced savings system called the CPF. Deductions are made from the working Singaporean’s salary and put into his or her CPF account, and that sum of money is set aside for either retirement or paying for housing.

The typical Singaporean couple, when purchasing a flat to live in, will have to take a bank mortgage, make an initial payment from the CPF towards that loan and then continue to service that loan with the regular deductions from their CPF account (maybe with payments from their salary). Since the prices of the flats are so high, buying a flat involves using large sums of money from CPF and coordinating it with one’s salary in order to pay for a very heavy mortgage.

So when they came in the lawyers to work out all the legal details of the purchasing, I got see the difference between those who have more money and those who have less!

Most people would buy the flat as joint-tenants, which meant that the ownership of the flat would automatically pass to the spouse if they die before they finish paying for the flat. The richer, however, were more willing to go as tenants-in-common – each spouse had a pre-decided percentage ownership of the flat. That allowed them to will away their share of the flat to their heirs (and might make it easier to divide the property in the event of a divorce?).

I haven’t had the time or energy to research into which was a better option. I’d suspect it depends largely on the couple’s specific situation. But what I am certain of is this: the richer went to the lawyer’s table having already thought through and discussed such issues. I sensed no uncertainty whatsoever on this from either the husband or the wife.

It also shows a willingness to think through and plan estate matters, how their possessions will be divided should either person die an untimely death. Morbid topic, but the richer face up to it more willingly.

Proverbs 13:22 (ESV) - A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children…

Another thing also: the richer tended to have their insurance agents on call, and they would call their agents in the middle of meeting with the lawyers. They knew how much they were covered for and expected their insurance agents to be able to give them good advice on how to coordinate their insurance coverage with the mandatory insurance required by CPF.

Here’s a good tip for insurance agents – if you want to have wealthier clients, you had best be prepared to advise them well on such important matters. Why should they get insurance from you if you can’t give them better advice, specific to their situation, than the next agent waiting in line for their business?

When I noticed all this, I first thought, “Of course the wealthier can afford to be fussy and meticulous about insurance and estate planning, they have enough money for it!”

Luke 16:10 (ESV) - One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much…

And that is the point, right? If I am not serious about such things now, even if I have more money I won’t be serious with them either. I’ll just be lazy and try to hire someone to settle all these matters for me. The richer consulted the professionals, discussed the pros and cons with their spouses, then made up their own minds and took the final responsibility for their own decisions.

They didn’t just hand the money over to some stranger and put it out of mind!

Proverbs 27:23-24 (ESV) - Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds, for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations?

Finally, the clincher: husband and wife were in agreement. They already came to the meeting prepared to service the mortgage as partners. Both of them knew they had to work together in paying off their home.

This was the case even if the wife wasn’t working (rare, in Singapore, but it happens). As long as she has worked before, she would have money in her CPF account, and the wives in the more affluent marriages wanted to make their contribution also. That is even if she did not have the earning power or as much savings as her husband.

I don’t see wives trying to get away with doing less just because their husbands can do more!

As a side note, I will strongly discourage men from marrying any woman who has no working experience, who goes from school or college straight into marriage and wants to be a home-maker. If that happens she will have no idea of the working world, as well as no inkling of what it really takes to make a living in the real world. She may end up as someone who knows the price of something, but not its value.

Proverbs 31:10, 16 (ESV) - An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels… She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

Proverbs 31 paints a picture of the biblical super-woman, an excellent wife. Notice how she gets involved with property and real estate investments? That is what I got to see in person so far.

Conclusion:

All the above came from me observing the upper-middle class people. I know that there are the really rich, who in Singapore will buy landed property or condominiums. Do they have different rules or different practices, so that they will preserve and even grow their wealth? Maybe. But I suspect God just wants me to learn from the upper-middle class for now. And if I am faithful with learning and practicing those lessons, maybe then God will entrust me with the wisdom of the really wealthy?

Be blessed!

When I am NOT thinking straight...

One good thing about all the mind-emotion exercises I have done before, it gives me a very good sense of when I am not thinking straight. And at such moments I am able to look at myself as an outsider and evaluate my own words and actions.

Very useful!

Right now I am feeling angry, resentful and frustrated. And though it is really tempting to just use all of that as a justification to do some wrong stuff (as Kent Henry once said, "God, just give me 5 minutes in the flesh, just 5 minutes, I'll...") I am working really hard to not let that happen.

Some things that  help keep me from flying off the handle more often:

Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV) - Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

We have to set our hearts and minds on things above in order to live in the reality of the new birth, the new life that is ours in Christ Jesus. Don't expect God to just zap you into the new life, and hope that you will just wake up the next morning with a renewed mind and a pure heart.

Doesn't happen that way!

We have to deliberately set your mind on heavenly matters. One simple and practical way to do that: take time out to read the Scriptures aloud. If you read silently your mind might drift, but when you read the Bible aloud, and take a few times through the same passage, you will end up giving the Word of God some attention. Our fleshly nature rebels against the discipline, but since when did living by the flesh give us spiritual results?

How about the heart? When we set our hearts on things above, that means we surrender the right for our emotions to run rampant. People tend to go into extremes. They either let their emotions run amok and cause them to say and do stupid things, or they are so afraid of their own emotions that they are not able to acknowledge them or face up to them. When we set our hearts on things above, we choose to value heavenly things. And also we find that the things of the earth will lose their hold over our minds and emotions.

Psalm 73: 25-26 (NIV) - Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

How do we get to that point? By entering the sanctuary of God, spending time in his presence (Psalm 73:17).

Colossians 3:5-10 (NIV) - Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Many people want to put to death what belongs to the carnal nature. Sin loses its appeal to the child of God over time. But few of them understand that God does not intend for us to start at this. We cannot put to death what belongs to the carnal nature until we first set our hearts and minds on things above. God has a pattern, a divine template for holiness for us to follow. We cannot expect God's kind of results if we do not submit ourselves to doing things his way, right? And even Paul cannot let go of the topic. When he tells us not to lie to each other, it is based on our status as born-again children of God. He cannot drop the topic.

Obviously it must be very important!

Colossians 3:11-14 (NIV) -  Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

We are God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved. If you have difficulty walking right in the Kingdom of God, that is because you have forgotten this: We are God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved. Take a few minutes right now and really speak it to your soul. Say "God has chosen me, I am holy and dearly loved!" Say it until you actually start to believe it...

Many of us feel a strong resistance to saying that, because of our lives. We know we aren't the sort of people we ought to be, as children of God. We know God is compassionate, but we often aren't. We know God is kind, but we often aren't. We know God is patient, but we often aren't.

But it is okay!

Take those virtues and put them on as clothes. When we begin, they are NOT a part of us. Come on, no one expects you to be your shirt, right? Likewise we need not expect ourselves to be compassionate and kind. We just need to put them on as clothes, something we wear for the sake of spiritual decency and to cover our flesh

Important: all this comes AFTER verse 1-4. We can do all this only AFTER we have set our hearts and minds on things above. Respect the divine order God has set. If we don't do what comes first, we can NOT do what comes after. We may be able to keep it up through sheer will-power, but after months of not getting enough sleep, or yet another crisis or disappointment, your will-power will run out.

That's when the flesh shows!

So if you want to be able to live right even when you can't think straight (like me right now), make the time and effort to set your heart and mind right. Don't wait till crisis hits, usually by then it is too late. Nobody starts building the foundations in the midst of the storm, not wise!

And if you want some accountablity in your Scripture time, do consider joining me at my Faceboook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/approved.workmen/ which I also call 2 Tim 2:15. You will see where I am in my Bible-reading plan for this year, as well as any immediate thoughts that are too big for Twitter and too small for a proper blogpost. Commit yourself to posting up what you have read from the Bible, and you will find that you do better at keeping up with it.

OK, that's it for now. I have typed more than usual (because I am too tired to edit properly) but I just want to get it all off my chest. Hope my ranting is of some help to you in some way.

Be blessed!

Guidance for Victory

Ever felt like this before?

Psalm 5:8 (NIV) - Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies—
make straight your way before me.

Most of us cannot say we have real physical enemies like King David did, unless we work in law enforcement or are leaving a former life of crime. But many of us know what it is like to have so little room for mistakes in our lives, to face tricky situations where we are on the edge of things going wrong.

And that is when we realize how much we need God to lead us!

I’m talking about seasons when time is so tight, when we have so much to do, many issues to manage, and all are important. I’m talking about times when we have just about enough money to pay for everything but we cannot afford anything else going wrong. And let’s not forget the times we have to deal fairly with family members who are so different, and what is right for one would be unfair for the other (like my two sons, for example).

In tight situations like these, time spent in the presence of God is vital. It sometimes baffles me how people can say they need God’s wisdom, strength and peace, and yet when I ask about their prayer and Bible time all I get from them are blank stares. Did they think God owed it to them to zap them full of wisdom and strength while they were pretty much ignoring him day by day?

David knew where he had to be in order to receive God’s leading. Look at the verse before his prayer for guidance.

Psalm 5:7-8 (NIV) – But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies—
make straight your way before me.

This is what God says to us when we are discouraged facing tough situations:

Isaiah 41:8-9 (NIV) - “But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.”

God reminded the Israelites of that time that they were his chosen people, chosen not because of who they were or what good they could do, but because of the covenant God already made with Abraham. Likewise we too are already chosen by God,

Colossians 3:12 (ESV) - Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…

… chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

Isaiah 41:10 (NIV) - So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

When we spend time in the presence of God, seeking him for direction and waiting upon him for his strength, he gives us victory over our enemies.

Isaiah 41:11-12 (NIV) - “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.  Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.

We may not have literal enemies that rage against us physically, but unpaid bills and creditors hounding us aren’t exactly a walk in the park either. A crisis that threatens to tear the family apart or serious illness can make us want to run and hide (through drugs, alcohol or even TV).  But God promises us victory.

Some people (including me) want to wake up the next morning and suddenly discover all our problems disappear. We find a few million dollars suddenly credited to our bank accounts out of nowhere, we open the newspapers and discover that the people threatening us in court got swallowed up in an earthquake overnight (one we miraculously slept through somehow) and the argumentative spouse and defiant kids repented in their sleep and woke up as absolute angels.

And all without us doing anything on our part.

But the passage in Isaiah tells us that we are to search out our enemies, to proactively confront them. In the account of King Jehoshaphat’s victory in 2 Chronicles 20, the victory came from the LORD, the people received the victory through faith expressed in their praising God, but they still had to march out to battle and be ready for confrontation.  

Isaiah 41:13 (NIV) - For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, “Do not fear; I will help you.”

God says he will help us. He is there for us in the midst of it all. And if we seek him and spend time in his presence through worship, prayer and the Scriptures, we are able to receive his specific guidance to lead us through serious problems and tricky situations.

And those situations won’t last forever. Follow closely after God and obey him. One day you, like King David, will joyfully proclaim:

Psalm 18:18-19 (NIV) - They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Be blessed!

2013 Bible Group

Hi, everyone!

 

I mentioned a few months back that I would start a Facebook group for those of us who want to be held accountable for our feeding and study of the Bible. OK, I FINALLY got it done. I call it 2 Tim 2:15 group...

 

2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV) - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

and you can find it here at https://www.facebook.com/groups/approved.workmen/ (copy and paste the url if you can't click it via your email).

 

So head over to that Facebook Group and join in. Start posting up the passages and chapters of the Bible you have read that day, and let us spur each other on!

 

Again, the group is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/approved.workmen/

Hope to see you there!

This Christmas 2012

Singapore, where I come from, is a pretty Westernized place.

You can tell from how people in general are fine with celebrating Christmas, even when they are not believers. Many offices have Christmas parties, not worrying about whether they would offend staff who hold different religions. After all, everyone over in Singapore seems to agree that a year-end holiday, presents and parties, are a good thing regardless of what religious beliefs you hold.

In the midst of the happy vibes all over, I just want to remind you that there are people who are not in the festive mood. In fact, the festivities everywhere only alienates them and makes them feel even more left out and alone.

I’m talking about the poor.

Matthew 26:11 (NIV) - The poor you will always have with you…

And when they see people around them celebrating, buying loads of expensive stuff (maybe on credit cards? Not a smart idea!) and partying, and they go home (if they have a home) and pain hits…

Galatians 2:10 (NKJV) - They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.

So as you enjoy the season, celebrate the birth of Jesus (yeah, I know all the stuff about it not being on 25th December and all that), take a while to remember the poor, both those in your church and outside of it. Take a while to remember that they will always need a bit of practical kindness, a little more love shown, especially during a season when they can feel unwanted and left out. Or they may grieve more deeply for loved ones that have left them, like widows and orphans.

1 Timothy 5:5 (NIV) - The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.

Put yourself in this widow’s shoes for a moment, in such a bad situation that she has to pray for help night and day. This verse, by the way, puts paid to a common Word-of-Faith idea that if you trust God for what you pray for, you should ask for it once and after that just thank God in faith. I do practice that, but I see from 1 Timothy 5:5 that we cannot say that anyone who keeps asking does not have faith. The words “to pray” in the above passage is translated as “supplications” in the New King James Version, and the Bible says such a widow trusts in God. So God has no problems with us supplicating him for our needs day and night!

The point of what I am saying, however, is that the poor are amongst us. What are we going to do about it?

And if you are the one who is poor, struggling to pay your rent, put food on the table and still trying to keep your children’s spirits up, let me just tell you that God has not forgotten you. He wants to help, to provide for your needs…

Philippians 4:19 (NIV) - And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

… but he wants you to do your part and trust him. Go out and bless someone else, just as the Philippian churches did with Paul.

Philippians 4:15-16 (NIV) - Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.

So look out for people who need your help. Even if you are poor, there will ALWAYS be something you can do, even if it is just simply turn up for a Christmas service and join in the worship. Sit near the front and encourage the worship leaders by letting them see that you, for one, are appreciating their efforts to lead people into praising God this Christmas. A smile, a phone call to a lonely relative or friend or a random act of kindness will go a long way in reminding your soul that God has made you to be a blessing, regardless of how much or how little you have in your bank account or wallet.
And of course, you can bless your pastor by helping him or her with the Christmas activities around church, or even an encouraging word. Don’t forget your church leaders!
I know this is not the usual email you get from me, about worship ministry matters or spiritual stuff. I guess sometimes we need to remember that we are always in a position to give, and to keep our hearts poised to do so.

2 Corinthians 8:12 (NIV) - For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

May our Lord find the gifts we give this season acceptable and pleasing in his eyes. Be blessed!