This is a new truth I have learnt:
God can only be glorified in us when we are truly satisfied in him.
Christianity is about realising something greater than it is within you – the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God
Song of Songs 4:8 – ‘Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon, from the lions dens and the mountain haunts of the leopards.’
Song of Songs is one of my favourite books in the bible. Today, God has taught me from there once again.
It has been a long time since I really blogged here. To be really frank, I lost my focus of God for the last 2 weeks or so. I have been preoccupied with many things; many things that are important, yet they are not as important as the only thing that matters in life, which is God alone.
Yes, this is what I learnt today:
Christians live not by christian principles, but by the grace of the living God Read the rest of this entry »
I realised that my shyness and solidarity sometimes kill me.
Because of shyness, I am afraid to speak out. I fear the consequences of speaking out. I fear what would happen to me if I would have a different viewpoint on things. Yet I fear that if I do not speak out, things will simply deteriorate. Which would actually please God, I do not know? Should I be brave and speak out or should I respect the group’s nature and leave things as it is?
And my solidarity keeps me from people. I am different and I am unwilling to conform to group culture’s if it is apart from the one thing that should bind us christians together – Christ. Should I be set apart for God and behave different for his sake? Or should I intermingle and accept certain things for the sake of bonding and building relationships?
Sometimes, things just require balance. But I am underable to find one right now.
I haven’t been blogging for a very long time here since I started preparing for my examinations. Now that my last paper ended yesterday, I should start blogging here once again. I realised the importance to blog down the lessons that God have taught me.
Firstly, blogging is like erecting memorial stones of God’s goodness in my life, just as Joshua did for the Israelites. They are precious gems of riches that cannot be bought by money. Whenever I’m down and when it seems that God is far, these stones do remind me of his hand in my life.
Secondly, this blog is a channel through which God’s goodness flows. It is important not only that God blesses me, but that he blesses through me. Through this blog, God’s blessings flow. And I hope that it will continue to flow through the people who read to others, so that God’s name may be made glorious.
Though I had little time to really sit down and spend time reading the bible, I was privileged to be able to listen to sermons via my ZEN player wherever I went. It was a few days back when I was listening to sermons from a series by Pastor Erwin Lutzer’s radio broadcast from the Moody Church entitled “God, why me?” The series was based upon the Book of Job, on the topic of suffering.
The first sermon began by setting the stage for the nature of human suffering. The conclusions were clear that the reasons for suffering is not always clear to men, for they belong to God. The bible says in Job 1:2 – ‘This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil’, yet Job encountered tremendous sufferings in his life.
His livestock and servants died: his possessions were lost (v 13-17). His sons and daughters died (v18-19) He was afflicted with painful sores from his head to his feet (Job 2: 7). In other words, Job lost almost everything and suffered greatly.
But in Job 1:8, we know the reason why Job suffered: ‘ Then the Lord said to Satan, ” Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. ” ‘ Job suffered in such a manner simply for one reason:
It was because God was proud of him.
God and Satan were in a challenge. It was a challenge of Job’s character and what Job was made of, of whether Job would still worship God if all of God’s blessings upon him were to be stripped away. That was the reason for his sufferings.
And God was proud of Job, that Job was made the object of testing for God’s name to be glorified.
The first sermon struck me quite heavily as I tried to put myself in Job’s place. In fact, I was picturing myself and wondering what would happen if God had placed me in a similar trial like Job. Would I curse God to the face just as Satan would like to see happen? Or would I pass the test with flying colours like how Job did initially, saying ‘The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord’ (Job 1:20)
Yesterday, as I was on the way to school for my last paper, the testing came. Read the rest of this entry »
