You are blessed when you say good

Jesus is the Blessed One. The word benediction, which is the Latin form for the word blessing, means “to say(dicere) good things(bene)”. Jesus is the Blessed One because God has spoken good thing of him. Most clearly we hear God’s blessing after Jesus has been baptized in the river Jordan, when “suddenly there was a voice from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him,’” (Matthew 3:16-17)

With this blessing Jesus starts his public ministry. And all of that ministry makes known to us that this blessing is not for Jesus but also for all who follow him,

By Henri Nouwen, May 22 Bread for the Journey.

I’m just excited on what I’m about to share=)I hope you too will catch the same portion I receive. I dun usually ask you to read it, but I hope you will on this one=D

I do not know about you, but the moment I saw the meaning of blessing in it yesterday in my office, I read the passage over and over again hoping to go deep into what the writer was trying to say. All of a sudden the word “say” seem to come alive in my spirit.

Directly after that, He prompted me to look at the pocket verse, which I paste on my computer that morning itself with the verse,

 Prov 4:20-21:

“My son, give attention to my words; incline your ears to my sayings.

Do not let them depart from your eyes; For they are life to those who find them.”

I cant believe that the word saying was there too=)I know very strongly then that the Lord was trying to show me something from there. I came home to check my ICB version and  “my sayings” could also be translated as “my words”

I was asking myself then…how do I incline my ear to His saying. I know the Lord speaks to us now thru a still small voice but usually not thru an audible voice.

This is what He clearly told me, “When you speak (say) forth my words, you are inclining your ear to my saying”

His Word=His saying=>becomes His saying to you when you say His word out

Later while I was jogging, he reminded me of Wayne. Wayne is young boy who has cerebral palsy & autism. Autism is a mental illness that affects children and makes them unable to respond to people & Cerebral Palsy makes their muscles & limbs permanently weak..But today Wayne is a different person altogether. He’s cheerful and full of energy ever since he started attending DARE(youth ministry) end of last year. It’s a miracle in itself that he even completed the track with us during Adventure Camp!while I was panting away Hehe~ And now you cant stop him from talking!=)haha

There just so much more to him, but what I’m about to share was what the Lord showed me about Wayne’s life…

Last Saturday I sat next to him in DARE service. The first thing that I sense in him was a strong anointing of faith in His life. Jesus surely likes Wayne. Looking at him really helps you to see the person of Jesus even more. He was the first to jump for the Praise song…. sited at the second row he surely didn’t look around him and observe to see if others were jumping;)He holds his hand together and talks and talks to Jesus like he was all alone with Him=) …constantly thanking Him. During sermon, you would hear him saying amen in confidence. Not His confidence but the confidence he has in Jesus. Once awhile he would take out a note book and write love letters to Jesus=)

This boy is even more blessed because of what Jesus told me. When you talk to me, speaking my words of love, you’re actually hearing me speaking to you although its from you…your words of love to me are my sayings to you!

For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

This is why Wayne has such strong Faith in him, because he may be speaking His word out loud more than many of us. I would say that I do not always practice what I know too=)

Many a times we do not hear Jesus speaking to us audibly, but now we have the key to him speaking to us. The Bible is full of His words for us. And when we say it, it is His saying. Our saying becomes His and we are blessed through it! Amazing rite?=)

Then he drops this verse at me as I was jogging back home and it’s really powerful!=)

“All good thing comes from heaven above…”

I knew it was somewhere in the Bible but just didn’t know where. Tried searching using e-sword but still couldn’t find and so I finally resorted to asking one of my fren who never fails to find it for me when I fail=)

It’s taken from

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father…”

I was happy then that I finally found the reference but disappointed on the other hand that it did not match with what I wanted. Good gift instead of good thing. Why then did he give me this verse when there’s no relation to “saying good thing”

I went to search up e-sword again in 23 different versions and to my amazement, there really was one version with “good thing” mention and the rest being good gift.

I do not know about you, but I was really excited to see this. It’s like finding the last piece of the puzzle=)

Here is what it says, (BBE)  Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning.

Do you see it, God’s beloved?=) Every good thing is given to us from heaven.

The good that you say it’s given to you from heaven. What is now available to us from heaven?…it’s His Word!!=D Even the good thing you say at times, it’s actually words drop into your mouth from heaven=)We just live to believe. Speak good by faith, and blessed will you be!

Remember what Pastor preached? Faith=title deed, and with that comes ALL the blessings you ever need!

Grace IS with us, God’s beloved!=D

Father Knows Best

READ 2 Samuel 16;5-12
Unlike David in 2 Samuel 16, we like to take revenge, silence our critics, insist on fairness, and set everything right. But David told those who wanted to defend him: “Let [Shimei] alone, and let him curse; for so the Lord has ordered him” (v.11).

It seems to me that as the years go by, we grow—as David did—in the awareness of God’s protective love. We become less concerned with what others say about us and more willing to give ourselves over to our Father. We learn humble submission to God’s will.

We may, of course, ask our opponents to justify their charges, or we may meet them with steadfast denial if they charge us falsely. But when we have done all we can do, the only thing left is to wait patiently until God vindicates us.

In the meantime, it’s good to look beyond the words of those who vilify us to the will of the One who loves us with infinite love. We need to say that whatever God permits is for His ultimate good in us or in others—even though our hearts break and we shed bitter tears.

You’re in God’s hands, no matter what others say about you. He sees your distress, and in time will repay you with good. Trust Him and abide in His love. —David H. Roper


Each day we learn from yesterday
Of God’s great love and care;
And every burden we must face
He’ll surely help us bear. —D. De Haan

It takes the storm to prove the real shelter

Writing, opening a deep well

Writing is not just jotting down ideas. Often we say: "I don't know what to write. I have no thought worth writing down." But much good writing emerges from the process of writing itself. As we simply sit down in front of a sheet of paper and start to express in words what is on our minds or in our hearts, new ideas emerge, ideas that can surprise us and lead us to inner places we hardly knew were there.
One of the most satisfying aspects of writing is it can open in us deep wells of hidden treasures that are beautiful for us as well as for other to see.

by Henri Nouwen

The shepherd and the sheep

Spiritual leadership is the leadership of the Good Shepherd. As Jesus says, good shepherds know their sheep, and their sheep know them(John10:14). There must be a true mutuality between shepherds and their sheep. Good leaders know their own, and their own know them. Between them is mutual trust, mutual openness, mutual care and mutual love. To follow our leaders we cannot be afraid of them, and to lead our followers we need their encouragement and support.
Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd to show the great intimacy that must exist between leaders and those entrusted to them. Without such intimacy, leadership easily becomes oppressive.

by Henri Nouwen

I know one door is open...

When all things seem against me

To drive me to despair,

I know one door is open,

One ear will hear my prayer

There is a way to God, Christ the Door, and that Door opens even at a child’s touch of faith. But otherwise it is as we read in Revelation 3:7-8, “He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens: I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it” – that is no one unless he possesses the lock-key of faith.

Christ coming = presence of God

Anyone of you who were there for the Fire Conference by Reinhard Bonke would surely agree with me that you have been blessed in one way or another. It was really special on how the Lord has “prepared” me for this. I got to know about it only last Thurs. But the amazing thing was, during the whole of last week, his book was the only book that I was reading and it happen to be the only book that was on my bed(usually there’ll be a few for me to pick from=)). How not to go even if you dun feel like it=)

But you know, the highlight of the event for me that day was not how well the music or sermon was played or delivered but the fellowship I had. Sat with the NUS group this time. Great bunch of people. Just love them=)

Dear Teresa was asking Pei Xian & I about the worship session after the whole event. She went on with few other questions like, how do you know you’vs been blessed after the whole thing? The reason can be so subtle that you hardly know which part of the service that has touched you. You may even say to yourself at times, but it was not my preference of music, my type of sermon, or my church group. But you know you have left the place feeling uplifted. For example, the Global Day of Prayer held at indoor stadium. Although it was officiated by a different denomination, we sang the songs they sang & prayed the script they wrote, that cannot stop us from receiving.

But what really caught me after the whole conversation was what John said, “How can you not be blessed when the whole stadium is filled with Christians…where the presence of God is”(may not be the exact words, but the point is there=))

It became even clearer to me & got me excited about the whole topic after I read one of the Reinhard Bonke sermons on the presence of God.

“…Speaking of His ‘coming’, both His constant coming and His Second coming, here is something else that thrills me, and I hope will thrill you. His coming is given a special name in the New Testament – Parousia. It is called the Coming of Christ in our English Bibles in 1 Corinthians 15:23 and Matthew 24:3. But actually, ‘parousia’ the biblical Greek word means ‘presence.’ He will become PRESENT. The ‘presence of God’ will fill the whole earth at His coming. That will be a notable thing – not a flash, being all over and done with, but the entire earth will become like the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost. Nobody can escape or forget or ignore then.

Now, ‘presence’ is a word not used in the Old Testament Hebrew. Instead, it has words like ‘face.’ “LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance[‘face’ in Hebrew] upon us”(Psalm 4:6). God’s transcendence or heavenly greatness tended to be thought of rather than His imminence, closeness. He shined upon them from heaven. They did not seem to think of His presence as Christians do today, though they believed he could be on their side, perhaps sending an angel.

But today we have only a misty idea of ‘parousia’. God’s presence is with us when He fulfills the promise of being where two or three are gathered together( Matthew 18:20)The blessings and joy of such occasions, which to us seems more powerful sometimes than others, help us to believe for that great consummation of faith when His presence fills earth and sky.”

G3952

παρουσία

parousia

Thayer Definition:

1) presence

2) the coming, arrival, advent

2a) the future visible return from heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the last judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God

Do you see the truth, God’s beloved?=)I didn’t when I first read it.

If Christ coming = presence of God, and presence = two or three gathered in His name.

Each time when you come together to worship Him, you have just felt a glimpse of how His presence would be like on the Day when He comes back and takes us home. When Christ returns, there will be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more disappointment. This is made possible NOW when you enter into His presence! It will transcend time into His eternal Kingdom=)

You need not wait for him to come to you. He did not say, “there I will be” but “there I AM” He is actively waiting for us. God never comes to us as a visitor. God never says, “Oh, I see a few believers; they’re praying. I’ll go and be with them.” He does not come to us; we come to Him” He is the I AM.

So if you ever decide to join a Christian event, stop deciding by the organizer or the band that’s playing that night, He IS in the midst of the believer. You’ll surely be blessed. Go with an open heart!

survival kit

Here is another night. Judas then went out immediately. And it was night (John 13:30). Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers…came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons(John 18:3)

When Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane, He led the disciples. They carried no torches or lanterns. He resorted often to that grove of olives trees to pray; therefore, He knew every path. It was moonlight, but dark under the trees. Without Him, they needed lanterns. John remembered Christ’s words: “I am the light oh the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life”(John 8:12)”

by Reinhard Bonke

 

This simple message just reminded me on what Pastor Mark preached on BS & Sunday. The Chinese culture would believe in putting in the deceased mouth three things, a coin, grains of rice & a pearl as their “Hell survival kit”. Then it caught me that Judas also brought three “survival kit” along with him. Hee~ Still seeking to know what these three things signifies.

The important truth we need to know is, without Jesus you’ll be lost in the dark. The example of Judas clearly shows that without Jesus in our life, you’ll be searching your own path, fighting your own battle and fueling your own torch.

But with Jesus, He leads and provides the lamp. Because He IS the way & the light!=D