I have decided to spend 365 days to finish reading the bible.
And will post blog by end of each week.
I am doing this with 3 of my other friends – Ivan, Sharon and Jot.
Please go visit http://365godsword.blogspot.com/ for our weekly blog : )

Argue no more!

It’s not worth my time to go and argue with people who does not believe in Christ and say ugly things about Christianity. Don’t get me wrong, I am talking about those who will say anything to oppose what you believe just for the sake of putting you down without a heart to seek what the truth is.

“Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed” John 20: 29

I have not seen Jesus Christ or God physically in my life but his word in the bible has reveal revelation to us to what is coming ahead. We recognise God's voice and his plan for us through the Holy Spirit, this Holy Spirit will be with us until the day Jesus Christ returns.

Believe and be saved.

Priceless Love

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17: 3

The savior Lord came into my life since I was born. However, my life hasn't always been smooth. I spent a few years of my life living a non-christian life. I was not as happy as I initially thought I would be living such life when I was ‘free’ from the ‘rules’ of the bible. I was living in the dark and have experienced life a Christian would never get to experience to live.

One day, God called on my heart – to follow Him again. His love drenched my heart like never before, his grace and mercy wipe away tears from my face. I bowed my knees in front of Him and repented, what this great love of Him to come save someone like me and to give me eternal life? Who am I to deserve glory from this God of God and the Lord of Lord?

Lord, open my eyes and my heart, to see your work and creation.
In this era of disbelieve, its harder and harder to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. We are all God’s creation and God respects this creation of his to choose not to believe, this makes it extra special that I am the chosen one. My mission to make this good news be heard by others who do not believe, to bring light and hope to these people's life through my own experience.

Lord, help me learn to bring “glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” John 17: 4

Where are you Lord?

I have not been very happy lately.

I think I have I failed to maintain interpersonal relationship with a few people and amongst these people 2 of them are my family members and plus I have been indecisive over a few decisions that I need to make.

Sometimes I hate myself for not opening up my feelings to others. Satan comes close to me when I had times like this to make me feel like I need to deal with all this by myself. Satan drives my emotion to make me feel alone and makes me feel that God has departed from my life!

This is when I heard God’s voice speaking to me…He told me to persevere and endure my trust in Him at both good times and bad times. God’s word will uplift you and not to discourage you. God’s word will help you make decision considering the consequences and not rushing you into making quick decisions!

Lord, thank you for what you have done on the cross for us. You have made way for us to seek God’s protection and comfort when we need a hiding place and for your healing hands to lay over our wounded soul. You will never forsake us indeed you are carrying us at times when we experience the low times in our life.

Freak

I think I have offended a lot of people by preaching God’s words to them. I don’t just get verbally humiliated but also get physically abused – I had books thrown at my face!!

These people I have talked to will say all kinds of things in contrary to God’s word, all they are doing is to prove you and the bible wrong.

I looked at Jesus and what he has done for the world. He was being insulted and humiliated at the cross, however, his love for this world never made Him think twice about dying for us. How great is this love? We are human, we are sinners and we do not forget and forgive let alone love. But Jesus told us to love one another like he has loved us!

Its not easy being the chosen one to spread the word of Jesus Christ, lets all stand up to satan and uphold our faith and mission as the child of the Royal.

Drinking game

When you are drunk, you will do anything you never thought you will ever do. You start doing table dancing, start kissing everyone you meet in the bar, telling your life story to strangers...

I never knew my limit until I drank myself silly once, "I can handle another one!" I thought to myself when I was already at the edge foolish enough not to think about the consequence. Yup, you are right, I lost it totally, I was gone!! I totally lost memories of what was happening that night, I woke up with tissues lying all around my face!! It was really yuck!

So how to drink responsibly? You don't need to drink until you can't stand still to know you got to stop, you don't need to get drunk like me to learn how much you can really handle. Golden rules are: Don't mix drinks, don't drink too fast and do not accept drinks offered to you by strangers! (thats probably called spiking...haha)

So if you know drinking could make you act and talk silly, then should you still drink? Of course you can! You can still enjoy a glass or two while with friends and over at dinner.

So what did the bible say about alcohol and drinking?

The bible didn't teach us that drinking is a sin, "the son of Man came eating and drinking..." (Matthew 11: 19) and Jesus drank with his disciplies at the passover (Luke 22: 15-18). Jesus even turn water into wine (John 2: 7-8) at a wedding at Cana in Galilee.
The scripture teaches us to behave decently and not in drunkenness (Roman 13: 13). For we know that when we are drunk we are taken control over by alcohol and not filled by the Holy spirit for which getting drunk on wine "leads to debauchery" (Ephesians 5: 18)

So drink responsibly and please do not drink and drive!

My ex

My ex is getting married this year!

My ex has been living with the partner for a number of years before they decide to tie the knot and walk down the aisle and to spend their life together as a married couple.

I did not have the sour feeling I thought I would have when I first heard about their engagement. Instead sorrow feelings emerges from my heart when someone I knew for so long who was once a baptised Christian has decided to turn away from God and his word and begin to take charge of his own life, deviates his sight and devotion from God and lay it on another human being.

God is loving and compassionate, I hope one day if he does come cross obstacles in life or has emotional baggage, that he would come in front of our God father and seek his face again. God is a sovereign God, He would never forsake you, He is always on the look out for you to return to Him one day. Seek and you shall find!

Thank you for once being such a wonderful person in my life, may your marriage life blossoms in the love of Jesus Christ and live the way that God wants you to live.

To date or not to date? (Part II)

Today my friend told me that a girl he has been dating for one month broke up with him last night. He was extremely upset, feeling lonely and abandoned. I proceed to ask him the reasons his girlfriend wants to break up with him, his answer was “she thinks that I cannot be a provider, I am out of job and she is not willing to wait for me until I am financially stable. Plus she wants to get married in two years time and do not believe I can afford to buy a property for her. She knows that I cannot provide all these to her and she isn’t going to hang around and wait so she put a stop to it”

This friend of mine and his now-ex-girlfriend are both Christians. But what went wrong there? Sometimes we need to look into the root of a relationship failure, could it be because the intention of starting a date right from the beginning was all a mistake? Could it be someone wants to be with you just because all they need is companionship without acknowledging the needs for commitment whatsoever? Does that someone thinks very casually about relationship and once they find out you cannot be the provider then even that one month of going out could not be sustained?

Note the term “date”, in Part I we looked at ‘dating’ and how it was different to ‘courtship’. Dating is somehow a worldly game that people play and in the end got themselves battered, feeling betrayed, used and even abandoned. The essential elements in ‘dating’ are:

- commitment free – you don’t need to talk about or consider about getting marry at this stage;
- you are able to jump into a relationship from friends to boyfriend/ girl friend overnight;
- if your partner has cheated on you, you cheat back!;
- if you don’t think him or her are financially well off enough for your standard, you can just walk out, easy!

You can see that when you ‘date’, you are not protected from anything. There is no guarantee of happiness ever-after and no guarantee of life-time companionship! And that is all because there is no solid ground of building that relationship upon on let alone talking about commitment to each other! You usually feel lonely or missing some part of yourself when you are away from each other, you felt that it is love that draws you two together. When you feel that lust and love has greatly outweigh the committment level, you will feel angry and used. If you do breakup, you usually find it very difficult to get over things left off from that relationship or almost impossible to forget that person.

However, if you do commit yourself to God and play by the rules of ‘courtship’, you probably will find a smoother road to finding a life partner. Usually in 'courtship' you begin interest in each other on a spiritual or emotional basis, then gradually move on to a more deeper level of emotional committment when both parties are certain of God's leadership with a view towards marriage. Some essential elements in 'courtship' are:

- God planned, men do not intervene;

- Both parties in the beginning seek God's will in the relationship;

- relationship begins when a man is financially sufficient, able to be a provider and take the lead in the family and has a view that the Lord will be the head of the family;

- when a woman is ready and prepares to be a helper in the family, a mother, a person to serve her husband with full understanding and love of the Lord as the head of the family; and

- the relationship will take place mostly at church, in church ministries, at home and in family activities.

I encourage people who are reading this now and has experienced the rough patch in your life living under the 'dating' system to turn to our father Lord for guidance in healing a wounded soul for "he may lift you up" and "cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7)

To date or not to date? (Part I)

When was the last time you were single and all your friends try to introduce someone to you so that you can start dating as soon as possible?

When was the last time you have came out from a bad relationship feeling all wore and tired? Have you ever felt that you have enough pain from past relationships and will back off when someone likes you approach you and started asking you out?

So why does so many relationship fail and what is the reason people walk out from a relationship feeling disappointed, heart broken and frustrated?

I was reading this book called "Choosing God's Best" and it talked about dating vs courtship.

Dating:

• Man centered;
• 'shop around' for Mr or Miss right;
• two people become obsess with each other;
• simply to enjoy each other's company;
• Do not need to commit/ seriously consider marriage or bonding now but possibly later;
• consider immediate pleasure usually in the physical sense.

Courtship:

• God planned and God centered;
• no casual 'tryout' or 'shop around';
• in the beginning two people are only to spend limited amount of time together and very little amount of time one on one;
• its a convenant between the 2 people and God and is reserved for couples spiritually and emotionally mature ready for marriage;
• only become physically, spiritually and emotionally involved should it be in God's will and the 2 people married.
  

As you can see that the dating system would create so much pain in a relationship, to name a few - unexpected pregnancy, abortion, illegitimate children and divorce. These could all contribute to destructive pain and they could last a life time!

Therefore, by following God's way in finding a partner, you can bypass the need to suffer emotionally and physically "for I know the plans I have for you" "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

God has created man and realised his needs and so God has created woman. In another word, God has created relationship and he understands our needs. He is the one that created our needs in companionship in the first place!

And God wants you to be patient to wait for his calling for your other half. He wanted you to 'be' the right person instead of to 'look' for the right person! Godly marriages are made by living a glodly lives first! Therefore, to become involve in ministry and church service, you are preparing yourself spiritually to be the right person for your future half.

The greatest enemy is our own complusion to choose what we think is best for ourselves instead of what god think is best for you!

With God's help, I am sure He can help you to avoid relationship failures from now on.