Hey, its finally time for me to leave for
Pray for us as we go that all will be well and we will be focused and precise as we step into unknown territories ….. The Lord goes ahead of us and is our WARRIOR! He fights every battle on our behalf and these battles have already been won on the cross for us. Hallelujah!!
You will probably miss me blogging for a week…. Don’t worry! Be happy! I will be back in one piece … safe and sound! Till then, tata!
Was at cell meeting and we were sharing on the Consolidation Book and talking about this story about this Chinese man who was stuck in a pit, almost drowning in mud and cried out to someone to help him. He approached Confucius and Buddha but did not find real help. Suddenly, someone approached him and He was different from the rest. In His face were marks of suffering. He was Jesus and lowered Himself to where the man was and picked him to where He was and took him in His arms, lifted him up and brought him out of the pit. He then fed the man and laid him to rest and said, “Son, from now on, we will walk together.”
What a touching and sweet story ….
Would our lives be exemplary of this Jesus who modeled for us what it meant to get someone out of the mud, who is stuck in a pit? Do you know of someone in that situation? Perhaps, we could be Jesus to them by feeding them, laying them to rest and walking this difficult and painful journey together with them. Thank God for the Body of Christ because I once again experienced a wonderful and HUGE provision of God through His child today – YES!! $$$ again! I know that this love gift came timely for me to bless others whom I know needs this blessing more than me…. God is Jehovah Jireh, OUR PROVIDER!!
Can we really hear the voice of the Lord? Many of us have doubts and are uncertain when it comes to hearing God’s voice. Psalms 29 tells us that if we give ourselves fully to the Lord – having His mind, knowing His ways, honoring and giving GLORY due to His name, we can and will hear the voice of God speaking to us. In fact, I think God wants to speak to us, just like He would enjoy an intimate relationship with us, His beloved children.
Perhaps the fears that grip us are, “What if we heard wrong?”, “What if that voice didn’t come from God?”, “What if I was embarrassed because I did or said what I thought I heard?” .. All the what 'ifs' ….
Well, Ps 29 tells us that the voice of God is powerful .. if we missed it once, He will speak again. The voice of God breaks the cedars …. if there are ‘weights’ in our lives, God can break them and loosen bondages in our lives. The voice of God can make us skip like a calf … if there is sadness in our hearts, God’s voice can bring cheer, joy and delight. The voice of God shakes the wilderness … if there is barrenness, unfruitfulness, wandering, God can bring stability, fruitfulness and multiplication. The voice of God makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare … if there is ‘death’ in whichever areas of our life, we can speak God’s life and breath in order to see resurrection power taking place. (Right now, I am claiming resurrection power for a little stillborn baby in his mum’s womb …)
The Lord is King over our lives and will be enthroned in every way. He will give strength to us – even in our weakness, frailty, feebleness, inconsistencies, lack, vulnerability and even our flaws. He Lord will bless us with Peace, that’s His promise to us. Ps 29:11.
I was woken up by a 'distress' alarm.. The Lord led me to read Job 30 and I really felt like what Job felt .. Terrors overwhelm me, my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud. And now my life ebbs away, days of suffering grip me. Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest. In His great power, God becomes like clothing to me; He binds me like the neck of my garment. He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes. I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up but you merely look at me. You turn on me ruthlessly, with the might of your hand, you attack me. You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm. I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress? Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness. The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me. I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
Lord, grant me understanding in times of my distress where I feel overwhelmed by many responsibilities and tasks at hand. Also, with the
But I felt the Lord assure me in Job 32:8 it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty that gives him understanding. It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right. Job 33:14 God does speak – now one way, now another though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds. He may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword. God, help!
Read Deut 28 today about the blessings that follows when we fully obey the Lord and carefully follow all His commands He give us today. The Lord our God will set us high above all nations on earth. Some of these blessings are :
1) Will be blessed in the city and country;
2) Fruit of our womb will be blessed;
3) Crops of the land will be blessed;
4) Our livestock will be blessed;
5) Basket and kneading trough;
6) Blessed in our coming in and going out;
7) Our enemies who rise up against us will be defeated – they will come from one direction but flee from seven;
8) Sending a blessing to our barns and everything that we put our hands to;
9) We will receive a blessing in the land we are in;
10) Establish us as His Holy people.
Do we compromise when we are put into situations where we are told to ‘tell a white lie’, cheat a little, cut a little corner here and there? In circumstances like these, the Lord reminds us to FULLY obey Him and carefully follow His Word. We want to delight and please the heart of God. More than that, there are blessings that follow when we do what is right! When we live by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Gal 5.
Lord, help us to know that in Christ, we are set free from guilt and shame and can stand up tall to declare your truth and your righteousness in all that we do and say!
Just wanted to drop us a little ♫ to covet your prayers during my trip to
Please pray for :
a) Safety and Protection as we travel from place to place – especially for those of us who are driving (me!). Bless our sleep (yawn, yawn) … as most of the journey will be spent on the road. (Pray for connecting flights back to
b) Good Health – Against malaria, dengue, hepatitis etc. Bless the water, food and lodging.
c) Unity in the team as we travel together – there're 8 of us!
d) Favor with local authorities and local contacts in the villages. In the midst of violence and political instability, we want to prayerwalk the land and ask God for compassion and love for
e) Churches in
f) Workers to be thrust out from around the world to serve
Let's prophetically declare Matthew 11:5 over
I had an eventful day because I was rather busy meeting different ones all day. The ironic part of it was – the world is really small! The group whom I met at my lunch time cluster cell was mainly gals in the legal profession. To my surprise, my childhood friend whom I met up with for dinner tonight, who happens to also be a lawyer, knew them too! In fact, they were even serving together in their previous Church. What a small world! The morale of the story is – Be nice to ALL people … you never know when you will need their help. Haha!
But something ‘horrid’ happened today too … my cookies which I attempted to bake from scratch turned out rather disastrous. Sigh … Guess I will need more practice. Hopefully, practice makes perfect cookies!! Oh, do pray for me, I need to have some nice cookies out soon. We've got a party coming up!
Was reminded this morning about Deuteronomy 11:18 – Fix the WORD OF GOD in our hearts and minds, tie them as symbols on our hands and bind them on our foreheads. Teach them to our children, talk about them when we sit at home and when we walk along the road, when we lie down and when we get up. Basically, we are to talk about God and His Word wherever we go because He wants us to be the FRAGRANT AROMA of CHRIST to spread His love and joy to the people around us.
Had a prayer request this morning from someone who needed help at work… the Lord reminded me from James 1:5 that if anyone of us lacks wisdom, we can ASK God who gives to All generously and without reproach, and it will be given to us. But there is a condition attached to it – Ask in FAITH, without doubting!!
Lord, grant us your wisdom from heaven which is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy ….. Yes! We ask in faith in Jesus Name. Amen!
What do you think of my 1st attempt? Haha! I am quite pleased with it although I think there is much room for improvement…. But most importantly, I am enjoying myself and having fun decorating the cookies I baked!!
God is good! Apparently, this is the very first order for cookies on-line and I am privileged to have a hand in it… It is the Lord’s favor to me!!
Was reading Ps 105:43-44 ..He brought His people out with JOY, His chosen ones with gladness. He gave them the lands… and they inherited the labor of the nations.
I read a little devotional today and thought it would be an encouragement to myself as I start out on this business journey with Kooky Art Pte Ltd – that whatever I do, I would do it with all my heart, as unto the Lord…. Because God is MY INHERITANCE as I serve Him faithfully!
Business as Ministry
TGIF Today God Is First, by Os Hillman
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. - Colossians 3:23-24
The Bible is very clear that the purpose for our work life is to reflect Christ in and through our lives. It is an attitude that says our work is to have an overriding "ministry" objective to it. Our work is our worship to God. These two words even originate from the same Hebrew word, avodah.
Robert Laidlaw was born in
But this is not the most significant thing that can be said about Robert Laidlaw. He understood that his work life was a tool to affect others for Jesus Christ. He began giving ten percent of his income early in his business life. Later, however, he entered this into his journal: "September 1919, age twenty-five. I have decided to change my earlier graduated scale, and start now giving half (fifty percent) of all my earnings." This he continued for the next 60 years. [John Woodbridge, ed., More Than Conquerors (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1992), 351.]
The result of that commitment was countless numbers affected for Jesus Christ through the resources he gave to mission groups and other worthy Christian causes. He was personally involved in ministry. He wrote a small book that gave a thoughtful answer to basic questions about life and faith. It was titled The Reason. Many hundreds of thousands came to faith in Christ because of this 46-page booklet. He publicly spoke to many of his faith in Christ and became very involved in the Soldier's and Airmen's Association when World War II broke out. Robert Laidlaw understood what it meant to view business with an overriding ministry objective.
Does the Lord have complete control of your life? If so, you will be able to see your work life as an extension of His life in you. Let the Lord live in and through your work life today.
Felt the Lord leading me to read Proverbs 12 today and verse 26 stood out for me because the Lord was reminding me to choose my friends carefully. "The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray." Indeed he who walks with wise men will be wise. But the companion of fools will be destroyed. Lord, may we be so acute to Your voice and Your leading, even in our friend-making/ business-partnership process, so that we will always reflect the glory of Jesus and please Your heart!! ☺
I had an amusing time at the lunch cluster cell meeting with the ladies at Tanjong Pagar this afternoon as we discussed about John 19 & 20 and some personal encounters and experiences. A topic cropped up about the story of Mary Magdalene at the tomb weeping, so caught up with her grieve, and did not recognize the existence and presence of Jesus with her. Sometimes, we are like Mary too – caught up with our personal agendas even when the Lord is close to us. We need to make a deliberate effort to recognize God’s presence, power and provision that is always available for us.
We shared that we needed to develop intimacy and dependence on God alone (as an individual) because even as a couple, you may be on one flesh physically, but our faith cannot be shared. It is a personal decision that we have to make and a personal walk with the Lord that we need to cultivate. Therefore, it is a good reminder to TASTE for ourselves, and see that the Lord is good. Ps 34:8.
As I was watching the National Day Parade on television and heard the theme ‘A City of Possibilities’ being mentioned again and again, I felt the Lord reminding me that each one of us make up this possibility. That is, that God has a special plan for each one of our lives and that each of us has a designated place in God’s heart. Acts 17:26-27.. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
More than living in a city of possibilities, we have a POSSIBLE God who believes in us and that WITH HIM, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!
That’s why we can rise up to be all that God has for us!By the way, as a Church, we hit our target and blessed more than 108,000++ people during the 100K blessing campaign from 8Jul-8Aug, 2007! Praise be to God who has gone ahead of us!!
I suddenly feel rather busy and am praying for wisdom and a new business anointing as I embark on my new journey into the world of wacky and creative art in all its form with KOOKY ART PTE LTD. I am challenged by proposals, ideas, resources etc. and I am learning to wait upon and seek the God of all creation – He is the CREATIVE, RESOURCEFUL and ALL-KNOWING GOD who will provide for all that I lack. Ps 63 : 8 says, “Trust in Him at all times, O People, pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” Lord, help me to go deep with you so that I may experience that you are a God who is strong and loving. And that you will surely reward each person according to what he has done… vs 12.
I was so grateful to God that I managed to bless a new contact today. She is this mother who stopped me along the way at a mobile shop near Marine Parade Central to ask if I could provide tuition for her 2 daughters. Does this sound like Zech 8:23 that we have been praying? Haha! They started their lesson with me today and I am so happy that I had an opportunity to bless her after the lesson and this was her reply, “Thanks for being so helpful to my gals. My girls are having a great time with you. They really enjoy and are looking forward to c u next week. Thanks again.” Would you be delighted and overjoyed if you received a message like that? My heart was just filled with overflowing thankfulness to God – for His kindness and faithfulness to me.
Was meditating much on 1 Sam 16 about how David was chosen and anointed as King. When he was brought in before Samuel in verse 12, the description of David was amusing … he was ruddy (pinkish), with bright eyes and good looking and the Lord confirmed his calling by allowing His Spirit to be upon him … He is the one! Must our eyes be bright or must we be good looking before we are chosen?? Not a bad idea for cosmetic surgery? Just joking!
Do we really know our calling? What has God anointed us to do and to be? Like David, his only occupation he knew since his new appointment was that of a Shepherd boy, tending to his father’s sheep. God selected him from among his 7 brothers because God had a special plan for his life.
Like David, do we know that we are God’s choice? We are special, and have a very significant place in God’s heart and in the
Know that just like David’s heart of simplicity, obedience and submission earned him his place in God’s kingdom, we too can rise up to be God’s armor-bearer. We can experience God’s purposes to be fulfilled for us in this lifetime and know the victories of God as we continue in our journey of walking intimately with Him. It is an exciting process of faith because sometimes, the road ahead could be lonely, frightening and steep but we know that the hand of Jesus will always be available for us – He reaches out to us even when we let Him go!
I am so pleased with myself for completing my 20 persons that we had to bless in this month – 8 July to
I really thank God that the Church was instrumental in allowing us this opportunity to ‘force’ me out of my comfort zone to go out and be a blessing. It was initially very difficult and uncomfortable but this campaign has opened my eyes to see the Lost and to love them even more than before. It has also made me slow down to care for the needs of others. There are indeed many needs out there, if only we have time to meet them. Many of us would rather live in isolation and enjoy our times of privacy, self and hide in the comforts of our own social circles. But this season has been special because when the Lord opened this assignment to us, He also provided a way out and went ahead to pave the way for us. God has indeed allowed success to come upon us so that we could be encouraged and return all the glory, honor and praise to Him!! He is worthy – My Lord and King!!
I was grateful that God was with us at a House Blessing I did for L & G this evening as well as at our 100k Re-Org. Like what SP said, ".. our '100K Blessing' has now rounded the bend, crossed into the final, critical 100-metre stretch, and entered its finest hour yet! Here is where it determines the victor: The time for us to accelerate towards the finishing line, and not to slow down, give up or look back. So let us finish the race as strong, victorious warriors – aided by God every step of the way! Together, let us press on to help our 20 friends receive life-transforming blessings from God!
God allowed us to minister to our dear sister whose shop was broken into last night. We blessed the family with full recovery of all the losses, a greater sense of unity and love during this crisis and thanksgiving in the midst of trials. 1 Thessalonians
I read Ps 34 today and was meditating on the attitude, response and commitment of King David when he wrote this Psalm. He actually felt fear, and the Lord delivered him from all his fears when he sought the Lord. It followed with a promise for us that when we look to the Lord, we will be radiant; and our faces will not be ashamed. The poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. He encourages us to taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him.
It’s an open invitation for us to JUMP into God’s
I have 2 wonderful testimonies to share …
A) I was so blessed when the mother of the child (the kid suffering from Selective Mutism) whom I was giving tuition to called me today to inform me that she was amazed how the child was enjoying coming for tuition and has noticed that she has shown great improvement. She even commented that there was some chemistry between her daughter and me, which she could not explain. I knew that all this was the miraculous hand of God at work and His grace. God deserves all the praise and adoration! This created new doors for me to reach out to this family in the future. I even had an opportunity to bless her after the call and invited her over to my house so that her kids could play with my niece and nephew. This was her reply, “Thank you for sharing and for your advice. The kids are so lucky to have you, tho for such a short time.” I knew that there will be many other opportunities to connect with this family. I am very grateful to God for bringing these kids and family across my path so that I could be a blessing! Glory be to God!
B) I was so delighted to receive a BIG angpow from my dear Aunt who wanted to bless me for my
Read Matt
Can we follow Christ’ example to be like Him in all aspects? He is our highly regarded, treasured, cherished model!
