Give praise with a thankful heart

In everything, give thanks to the Lord.

I remembered a testimony shared by Pastor Mark. He was, at that time, going through the worst season of his life. He was having a $16 million debt. He was dealing with health issues such as obesity. He was feeling helpless & possibly hopeless as well.

Then one day while "complaining" to God, God spoke to him. God asked Pastor Mark, then deacon Mark, to look up at the ceiling & asked him what did he see. Pastor Mark told God that he saw the ceiling fan. God reminded Pastor Mark that there were some who didn't have electricity at home just because they didn't pay their utilities bill.

God then asked Pastor Mark to look out of his house window. He reminded Pastor Mark that his car was still there. God told Pastor Mark that He was taking care of all the issues that Pastor Mark was facing then. He reminded Pastor Mark to give thanks in everything & to praise Him for His goodness.

In five years, God delivered Pastor Mark of his debt & healed all the illnesses that he was suffering from. There is deliverance when we give thanks to God. There is power when we praise & worship God. Hallelujah!

The steadfast love of God

The bible says that God is love. His love for His people & His children will never change.

As I was heading towards my office this morning, I felt the heat from the weather. As I didn't want to perspire too much by walking to my office from the MRT station I decided to take a bus, for there is a bus stop very near my office building. I waited at the bus stop for about twenty five minutes & seeing that the bus I wanted to board had't arrive, I decided to walk to my office instead.

Just after lunch, it started to rain & rained quite heavily. I was thinking how fast the weather had changed. It was bright & sunny one moment & dark & stormy the next. It resembles some of our situations that we may be going through.

Sometimes we experience all kinds of breakthrough in a season. And then we go through valleys of our lives. Circumstances may change, but the love of God will never change. Give praise & worship God when the going is strong. Give thanks to God when the going is tough.

God displayed His love for the human race at the cross. Jesus was crucified at the cross to divinely exchange His position of righteousness for our position of sin. There is no greater love than this for Jesus died for us while we were sinners. God loves us while we were still sinners. What more now that we are His beloved children.

It is finished!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Christians are basically sinners who accepted the gift of salvation. It is a gift and not something that a sinner can work for. It is the master plan of God to save and redeem. At the cross, Jesus said with a loud voice: It is finished!

Some Christians are still working for their salvation. They think they have a part to play in the redemptive work. They are woking very hard for their blessings. They are exercising regularly to maintain their health. They are working overtime or taking on multiple jobs to provide for they family.

There is nothing wrong in exercising to keep fit, to feel good after the adrenaline rush. There is nothing wrong in working overtime to earn the extra cash to give one and the family some extra luxuries. However, when a Christian does these things with the knowledge he/she is the one to achieve all good things in his/her life and not the almighty God who is more than willing to supply, the Christian just subjects himself/herself under the law.

God is willing to give us Jesus, what more will He withdraw from us? Trust in the finished work at the cross for the blessing of the Lord makes one rich and He adds no sorrow to it.

The Lord is with me

The Lord is with Joseph and He prospers him in all he puts his hands into.

The bible has many instances where an individual is blessed when the Lord is with him/her. The bible says that when the Lord is with Joseph, he prospers in all that he puts his hands into. The bible also says that Isaac prospered in the land where there was a famine when the Lord was with him. When the Lord was with Joshua, he prospered in all his ways.

No one was sick when he/she allowed Jesus to heal him/her. No one remained poor when he/she had been touched by the grace of Jesus. When one saw the grace of Jesus, he/she experienced the peace of God in his/her life. That's what the bible says.

When the Lord is with us, He will prospered us in all that we do. He will light the path of righteousness and lead us through it. He will make our paths straight. He will see to it that whatever is not right with us will be make right eventually. Cultivate the presence of the Lord in our lives. When we are so conscious of the Lord's presence in our lives, things will happen our way.

Praise the Lord for His goodness and mercy. Jesus says He will never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus is the personification of love. Trust in His unending love for us. Hallelujah.

God's weather

I joined a group of friends from church to cycle from Marine Cove to Changi Village and back to Marine Cove on last Saturday morning. I had prayed to Abba Father for an enjoyable time with good weather the night before.

The group had decided much earlier on to start the ride at around 10
am. From past experiences, the weather can be quite hot after around 11
am in the morning. I was a bit concerned about the weather as I didn't want to have sunburn on my arms and legs.

However, when I woke up on Saturday morning, it was raining cats and dogs! I was questioning God why the unfavourable weather. For heavy rain usually implies lots of puddle of water along the bicycle track and lots of dirt to go with it. It is something I personally don't like as I will have to spend a longer time cleaning my bicycle after the ride.

God is able to answer exceeding abundantly above all things we ask or think of. Little did I know that when we started to ride, the weather was cool. Cool enough for a leisurely ride towards Changi Village. Cool enough not to get sunburn early in the morning. Cool enough not to feel any heat from the sun. Praised the Lord for the wonderful weather on last Saturday morning.

We did eventually get a little bit of tan on our arms and legs while riding back from Changi Village after a full lunch at around 1:30 pm. Hallelujah. It was only a slight tan and not a sunburn which most of us would have experienced had the weather was "normal". Can't help but to praise God for His love and goodness on me throughout the whole ride. Sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers the way we envision it to be for He has a better plan for us. If only we don't doubt His loving heart towards us.

Divine protection

This is something that happened to me this morning while I was cycling along Pasir Ris Park. I believe God is divinely protecting me from harm.

It has been quite a while since I last cycled early in the morning. Decided to just bring my bicycle for a leisure ride toward Pasir Ris Park, my usual cycling route. Things were good this morning. The weather was wonderful. The traffic along the main roads were light and smooth. My legs felt good even after a prolong period of rest from cycling. My lungs felt good, not having to breath hard.

All was well till I reached a junction where I had to cut into another track. There was a tiled pathway between the track I was on and the track I was to cut into. I decided to go on the tiled pathway instead of just cutting across the grass patch between two tracks.

While on the tiled pathway, my front tyre got caught between two cement tiles. I was immediately flung to the right ride of the tiled pathway. This is the amazing part: my right clip on my right cycling shoe dislodged itself from the right paddle and I happened to land on a patch of grass that was soft and slided for a very short distant! Amazing! I always dislodge my left clip first when I want to dismount from my bicycle. To dislodge my right clip from the right paddle takes a little effort. Beside getting a bit dirty on my right thigh and arm, there was no scratch or cut on my body. Hallelujah!

It must have been angels working to uphold me and cushion my fall. There was a man sitting under a hut that was beside the tiled pathway. I think he saw the whole incident unfolding right in front of his eyes. Hahaha. :-)

All glory to Lord Jesus! Hallelujah!

What happen to Peter?

On the night when Jesus said He would be betrayed and forsaken, Peter swore he would never leave Jesus even if all the disciples were to leave Him. What happen to Peter later on?

Peter and the rest of the disciples fled to escape the capture of the Roman soldiers. Wasn't it interesting that it was the Roman soldiers that came to arrest Jesus and not the scribes and Pharisees? Weren't the scribes and Pharisees the ones who plotted to arrest Jesus and to put Him away? Anyway, they were probably too coward to confront Jesus face to face.

Peter ran away but always kept a distance far enough to be able to see Jesus. While following Jesus at a distance, he denied Jesus three times till the cock crowed. He was very saddened. He was probably feeling guilty and self-condemning cause he had swore that he will not leave Jesus, regardless. He cried, for Jesus had turned to look at him with an assuring and non-condemning eyes showing he was forgiven.

Peter was trusting his own effort to follow Jesus. But when heat came, he was not able to fulfill his promise to he Lord. This is what will happen to any one of us when we depend on our own efforts to do good, to provide for ourselves and to get healing for ourselves instead of trusting the Lord to fulfill all these things that we seek.

When Jesus had risen, He was at a beach along the sea of Galilee and was asking His disciples was there any food. The disciples replied that they had not have any catch. Jesus told them to cast their nets to the right of their boat and they were able to catch 153 fishes. Peter immediately recognised that it was the Lord that was talking to them. He jumped into the water and swam towards Jesus on the beach.

Jesus asked Peter three times whether he loved Him. Peter answered "Yes" three times and after the third time Peter answered, he cried. Jesus was able to assured Peter that he was forgiven and restored and empowered Peter to feed His flock.

It is the grace of God that saves us and it will be the grace of God to see us through our lives. When we depend and trust His grace upon our lives, things will happen for good to us. Just believe.

In the midst of a storm

Shalom.

When the disciples were trembling and possibly horrified by a storm while crossing the sea of Galilee, Jesus was sleeping peacefully at the back of the boat. The wind was howling and the waves were hitting the boat that they were on till a point they feared for their lives and woke Jesus up by shouting, "Master, don't you care that we are perishing?".

Jesus did something that was absoluteyl cool and awesome subsequently. He woke up. (just kidding) Jesus woke up and with a outstretched arm He calmed the storm by proclaiming, "Peace, be still.". And immediately, there storm ceased! There was perfect calm and the disciples didn't have to perish.

Some of us could be facing a storm that seems to have the power to totally destroy our lives. Beloved of the Lord, take heart for Jesus is with us. He'll never leave us nor forsake us. Look to Him for the answer to the storm and cease from all fears for He is willing and able to calm the storm in our lives. A stoke of His favour can transform our lives completely.

Regardless of the magnitude or severity of the storm we may be facing, behold Jesus and His finished work at the cross. For there lies our answer to our storm.

What's in God's heart?

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

That is possibly what God is thinking all the time. He wants us to prosper, and to be in robust health as our souls prosper. He wants us to be so filled of Jesus and His finished work at the cross that we will know Jesus will take care of us in every aspect of our lives, that He is vitally involved in our daily activities.

God is not a God who is far far away in Heaven that we have to be really good in order to be right with Him. He wants to be so close to us that He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us. He wants us to filled of the Holy Spirit so that our every word and action is guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. He has His word for us in the bible to know more of Jesus, to have a fresh revelation of Jesus daily.

God only has good thoughts toward us. He wants us to come to Him boldly. He wants to commune with us every moment. He loves us so much as to send His only begotten Son to divinely exchange His position with us at the cross.

Be bold to go to Abba Father for even the smallest thing that bothers us, for He cares. Nothing is too small or too big for our God. Put our trust in Him and He will see us through. Hallelujah!

The greatest love of all

We love for He first love us. My Abba Father loves me so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die on my behalf at the cross so that I can be made righteous before the Almighty God.

That's the kind of lavish love my God has for me. He doesn't want to see me suffer in any shape and form. He doesn't want me to suffer eternally in hades. He longs for my sonship. He wants to be close to me and provide for my every need.

He is always ahead of me to prepare my path. He wants the best for me. He wants me to remain in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. He wants me to know that I am the righteousness of God in Christ. His plans for me are plans of a bright future and to prosper me. For the bible says, God will freely, with Christ, all things to enjoy.

We can now love one another because we first receive the love from Him. For we can do nothing without Christ. Jesus has come into our lives. The Holy Spirit indwells in me. He is the seal to the time of the second coming of Lord Jesus.

As fellow human being, our love for each other is limited. There is a limit to the love we have for each other. However, when we love each other with the love of Christ, there will be no limit to this Godly love. Regardless of how we are treated by others, we can always look to God for His un-ending love. The greatest love of all. Hallelujah!

God of more than enough

I have a God who is a God of more than enough. He is El Shaddai!

My God lavish His love upon His children. He doesn't know what is enough. He always blesses with more than enough. He always do it in style. That's the God whom I come to know, El Shaddai! My God is tripartite: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In the story of the feeding of five thousand men, Jesus was able to multiple five loaves and two fishes to feed five thousand men, not counting the women and children. When they were all filled, there were 12 baskets full of food left for the disciples. El Shaddai was able to bless with more than enough. There was none hungry on that day.

In the story of the cleansing of leprosy, the leper asked Jesus if He was willing to cleanse him of leprosy. Jesus was not just willing but touched the leper who was probably devoid of all human touch for the longest time. Jesus went beyond than what was needed. He made the leper whole and gave him the human touch which he would have longed for.

In the story of the healing of a woman with the issue of blood, the woman was healed of her issue of blood flow when she touched the hem of Jesus' garment. Jesus turned around to look at her to assured her of her healing and give her the shalom peace. The woman, beside having received healing for her blood issue, received shalom peace into her life.

My God is the same yesterday, today and forever. My God is ever willing and ready to jump into my situation to turn it around for my good. He is keeping me whole and healthy divinely. He is prospering me with every spiritual blessing. He is protecting my whole family from harm and from every weapon that had formed against me. He is El Shaddai. With Him, I will never lack. Through Him, I can do all things. By Him, my life will never be the same for I can only expect good things to happen in my life. Hallelujah!