From the lamb's mouth...
My favourite verse!!!!
Ahh.. finally.. already turning 21 and still no fav bible verse.. hmm.. well not that it's a requirement, but yar.. is nice to finally know i have one.. like when people quote their favourite verses to encourage others (or me).. so yar.. coz on friday Elaine at ocf shared her fav verse with us.. and then sat morning QT i came across a verse that i realised has never failed to encourange and uphold me.. so yupz.. something just clicked.. it was my favourite verse! even though i didn't know it.. but now it's official! ok, maybe you're wondering what's the big deal about this? well.. i've never bothered remembering verses or scripture.. is something i never thought i could do coz well, i tried before when i was much younger but yar.. they never took root in my heart. But this year!!! God has given me a desire to want to memorise His word and i believe that's something every Christian should do throughout his/her life.. So yar.. the challenge is on.. coz besides memorising this particular verse (well, 2 verses), i have the ocf memory verses as well! and this weeks is HARD! "God help me.."
my fav:
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus 0ur Lord." Romans 8:38-39
Cool yar?
And this weeks one:
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-19
All glory to God
phew.. got through that week without tv/ps2... hard stuff.. and yes.. is because i'm too dependent on it.. sigh.. something i'm finding quite hard to give up.. really. So will see how.. really need to find a balance in my 'entertainment' life.. really find it hard to accept the fact that this world is not for me to enjoy.. i've got a whole eternity for that.. and yet.. have to remember that part of worship is to enjoy God.. so yar.. is hard to put into practice some times.. i dunno.. something God will work on for sure. I'm still so ill-disciplined in my life.. will have to wait and see how God is going to change me.. and yes, i know i have a part to play too..
Prayer:
"God, i'm slightly tired today.. renew my strength.. prepare my life.. a living sacrifice.. for You"
Day one
phew.. this no tv/computer games is harder than i recall.. done it a couple of times before but yar.. it's really quite hard this time.. probably always has been, just forgot.. which means yar.. have become too dependent on that for my entertainment/pleasure.. today like besides worship rehearsal, i basically studied the whole day.. oh.. i tried to read my revelation commentary as a bit of fun but yar.. is a bit chim.. will probably need to really sit down and do that.. oh.. i also took a detour to buy joy's present and koorong.. and bought me some gifts as well.. hehe.. bought 2 books.. i think i'll get started on 'Case for a creator' soon.. have heard much about it so have decided to read it.. sounds interesting.. so yar.. basically today has been filled with much urges to play/watch tv but yar.. still doing ok.. just now was doing my daily bible reading and a verse stuck out to me.. something about how we are to prove our repentance through our deeds.. so yar.. hopefully this is part of that.. though i know the future holds greater challenges..
hmm.. aside from that, i've been pondering lots more about my spiritual walk.. like "should i even be finding sources of entertainment aside from God stuff?" and like "how big do i see God really..?" etc etc.. qns i dun think God wants to answer me straight up.. but yar.. is a whole lot of random qns actually.. so yar.. don't blame Him (not that i would anyway).. k lar. i'm just writing as a means of getting some non-study related stuff done.. coz i took a nap at 6-9pm coz the RF4 material stopped permeating my brain anymore.. (permeability or permittivity level not gd enough.. or maybe it's coz the conductivity is too small..? thus the amount of info entering me exponentially decayed.. ok, enough silly talk) and then decided to study a bit more.. and then i couldn't get to sleep so here i am.. hope i'm making sense.. brain a bit full, stomach a bit empty.. can't even remember what i ate for dinner.. ohh.. that's right.. cheezels and instant mee soto.. k lar.. i'm gonna work on this site a bit before attempting to sleep again.. betta get to it.
And a time to rejoice!
ok.. i know it seems a bit soon that i post this after my last 'post of grief'. but yar.. i can't help it.. God has lifted my spirit tonight and i wanna thank Him!
but yar, i still remember the verse:
"Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom." James 4:9
- speaking to the sinners continuing in their sin..
hmm.. but i did not remember the next verse.. is pretty cool
"Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up". James 4:10
and yar.. before that is a verse that was mentioned strongly tonite at ocf.. and is one of my memory verses actually..
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7
at first i thought "resist" was the main point of this verse.. but now i realise the main point is actually "submit".. so yar.. hope to get it right next time..
also, i've come to the realisation that i'm in a war and my armor is not looking to good.. pieces falling off or strapped together with tape.. not holding my sword in the right way.. etc.. is a bit scary to think of the reality of that..
i used to not think too much about the cliche about puttin gon the armor of God.. thinking how it's just a nice analogy thingy.. but yar.. it's real!! God doesn't refer to Satan as the 'prince of this world' for nothing! in fact, in Daniel 10, we see one of God's messengers being delayed by Satan ('prince of Persia') and then michael (one of the arcangels) had to come help.. even after relaying the message to Daniel, the angel (i think) than had to "return to fight against the prince of Persia" again.
so remembering that my battle is not with flesh and blood (neither mine nor others), but against the rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil (eph 6:12)..
"Therefore put on the
full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the
belt of truth buckled around your waist with the
breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your
feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the
shield of faith, with which you can extinguist all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the
helmet of salvation and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Eph 6:13-17
In conclusion, i might still take a few days to recover from yet another fall, but yar.. at least God has picked me up already!
"Thanks so much my loving heavenly Father!"
A time to grieve
..it's about sin again.. horrid horrid sin! and yar.. was reminded that
ALL sin is great coz my GOD IS GREAT!
"create in me a clean heart, O God"
"and renew a right spirit within me"
"create in me a clean heart, O God"
"and renew a right spirit within me"
"cast me not away from Thy presence, O Lord"
"and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me"
"Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation"
"and renew a right spirit within me"
"thanks Lord for still loving me!"
p.s. no tv/computer games for a week..
Complacency
is getting late but thought i'd put this on first..
yar.. complacency... am sure we've all experienced a sorta spiritual complacency before (assuming i'm talking to Christians, else u can ask me if u don't understand). it's being content in our walk with God (and usually has a negative connotation - so a 'distant' walk). This is not the same as being content with who we are in God... but rather being content with just ourselves.. and yar.. am going through something like that right now.. is a bit frustrating.. am not seeking God nor bothering too much about His opinion of me.. not that i want to, is just something that is happening.. well.. i'm going to have to try something i guess.. i can't take this too long.. else i'll be slipping way back into my old lifestyle.. plus yar, i know it's not God wants.. hmm, i think my heart is having amnesia.. a lot things i know is just 'head knowledge'... sigh.. hopefully i'll pass this trial..
Prayer:
"Lord, help me (and let me) draw close to you again.. i so need you.. fill me with a passion for you again.. and help me see things with ur perspective.. to value the things u do, and to disregard the worldy things.. with all this said, i know i have a part to play. may my life truly reflect your light to those around.. thanks for hearing the cries of a helpless child.. love You."
4 memory verses!
wow.. think it has been ages since i did memory verses.. i know.. it's a good habit but i've am so lazy.. but yar.. so far i've been doing well.. it's part of my ocf small group thing.. just to refresh my memory and help me remember them before tomorrow i've decided to write em out again.. I've also been reminded that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, useful for both attack and defence against the things of this world.
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19-20
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is exellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Philippians 4:8
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. James 3:17
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7
My faithful God
Phew.. it's been a tiring day.. and now is only 3.25 in the afternoon! I just wanna thank God for faithfully sustaining me today. I had a badminton tournament today and coz i kinda strained and injured my right leg during soccer on thursday, erm i've been worried whether or not i'd be able to play properly. but yar. My combination of 'deep heat' and pray seems to have succeeded i was able to play still.. of course i played really horribly but yar, that's not really the point. So yar, even though i was initially a bit down about my games and am still not completely over it, i wanna thank God that for His faithfulness in hearing my (and my friends) prayers and holding my leg together. k lar.. tired, but i'll have to start work soon.. you know, it's really quite amazing how God has slowly changed my attitude to study and uni etc. i'm like more ermm.. responsible.. when i comes to studying hard and doing work. Is great.. it used to be so much of a chore. God 'works'! i'm living proof of that! So yar.. hope i can continue "studying hard for the glory of my God" - part of my msn nick at the moment. Oh and praise God that SOMEHOW, his over-generousity and mercy my subjects last year has allowed me a joint award (with my friend -jin) in electrical energy systems.. u'd be surprised how little i really know about it (or any other uni subject.. REALLY!!!) + entry to a prestigious (am just making this up) scholarship association: Golden Key (or something) - Joined that a while ago now.. so yar, God has truly been good to me..blessing after blessing! (of course i can't really be blessed more than i already am since Jesus loves me)
think i wanted to stop writing half a paragraph ago but yar.. things just keep coming to mind. i was asked last ocf meeting (yesterday) if i could be a errm.. discipler/mentor to some of the younger christians brothers.. and yar i was like.. oh no... (in my head of course) i'm sure the feeling of being asked to do something u dun really want to do is a familiar one. so u know what i felt then.. i dun really think i'm 'gd enuf' to be lead someone's spiritual walk.. i mean just that night i was taking the initiative in leading 2 of my other small group ppl for a time of sharing and prayer and was like really bad at it.. plus i feel i'm still not stable enough in my own walk so i shouldn't really do this. and then as i thought about it more, i remembered just last week we were reading James chapter 1/2 about how not everyone should presume to be teachers etc etc.. so yar.. but then i really want to be open for God to use me.. so now i'm like if He specifically tells me that i should do this, then i will (with his guidance and strength of course) but i'm really starting to think i wouldn't be the best choice.. but then i also remember how God chose Moses to lead His people and etc etc.. hmm.. will just have to pray, wait and see.
Oh.. just want to let this out:
I have four memory verses (incremental from 2 weeks ago) to memorise for this friday!! arghh!! ok.. that's it.. actually, let me spend a bit of time writing them out now:
(btw, God has been humbling me with memory verse.. i'm confident when i start writing, but so far i've left out parts for the first two verses when tested. and the thing is i actually memorised it quite well.. or so i thought)
My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life God desires. James 1:19-20
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent of praiseworthy - think about such things. Philippians 4:8
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. James 3:17
k, that's it lar.. really..