Dear…
''The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest.'
Luke 10:2
Yesterday, I was in an expansive mood, slouched on the expensive and decidedly(at least for me) less comfortable Herman Miller chair in the office, and as my eyes rested on the posture of the long neglected trio of stuffed toys that have been warming the space behind my chair for what seems like posterity, the following thoughts came alive in terms of their symbolism. To the left was a bear, named Edward, a gift from the Boys' Town, hand clasped in prayers. Next to it, occupying centre stage was a lion, named Max(a kiddie gift from a local bank for my son when he opened a children's savings account, he must have left it in my office in one of his regular sojourns to spot check on me) with hands outstretched and an inquiring look. And completing the threesome was a pecky, pale yellow cockerel, hunched over my Bible, as if feeding on the Word of God, pious I am not sure, but by virtue of its unstable base, the unnamed cockerel has to hunch over.
'…Go, and do thou likewise.'
Luke 10:37
Much as we might not be fully cognizant of, a decent smattering of words and phrases that we use in the English language have its origins from the Bible. And by virtue that the most recent two great Empires of the world, ie the now toothless British Lion and the fast receding American Bald Eagle are English speaking, Christian origin nations, it would not be presumptive to say that Biblical language does permeate daily thoughts across much of the world, for much as the proponents of Esperanto tried, they could not dethrone the English language as the dominant international and political lingua franca.
Samaritan or rather SOS, most of us will associate with a distress help desk, especially for emotionally issues. The story of the kind Samaritan, most Christians should know, unless the Bible is as foreign to you the believer as Mao's Little Red Book.
This morning, now that my heart is finally at rest(see short testimony below), but not the body as yet, for the Lord our God has as of now, not deemed it time for Him to take me home , for there is still work to be done as He leads. I come to believe that it is time for me to move away from trying to grow my material networth, but rather to leave it to God, and instead, this is the time to fully channel my all to investing in His kingdom, for God has provided the provisions, it is time to use it as He leads for eternity, rather than for the fleeting material.
'And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet,and heard his word.'
Luke 10:39
What is a grown man messing around with stuff toys? Faith is child-like and to "see" God, we must be willing to be like the child we once were, dependent upon the leading of our parents.
Circumstances can be burdensome, demands for our attention and time overbearingly distractive, but like the good bear, we must not just give time for prayers, but always come to the Lord in prayers, all the time. Prayers bring us into communion with our Father. It allows us to know His will, and in being still, we allow our heartbeat to align with the will of the Lord.
Prayers asked in the will of God will always be answered. Would not life be wonderful, where every crossroad is no longer bewildering and every step that we take, we make with certainty that God has laid it and we need only deal with the present day, by honoring Him in whatever we do, not worrying about the provisions needed nor the conclusion of our response, other than knowing that God will more than provide?
'He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.'
Psalm 111:4
Peace and joy is the hallmark that every faithful Christian will have etched upon their heart, and show by the glow of their countenance. It is there for our taking. And so, which expression should one read into that shown by the mangy lion?
Is it like above, where you lived a life of joy and peace, through the sunny days and also the stormy nights, for like the indomitable lion, our response in all circumstances should always be a roaring confidence of "why not" for God is with us, always. And God is Sovereign.
Or should we be the disheveled lion, grimacing with an expression of "why?" Why is life so burdensome? Why can't I be like those on the nicer side of the grass. And when you finally after much angst and strife do reach the other side of the pasture, it is another "why?" This time round, why am I still not satisfied or why do I still have other issues?'
'For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.'
Galatians 1:10
In the rudimentary stages of this Word based ministry that our good Lord has placed in my heart these past 6 years, there were times I wonder, how many will actually read this response of love? But God reminded me in those moments of weakness, that we must plant the seeds as He leads, others will water, but He will bring about the increase.
Like the 'cowardly or insecure' cockerel, if yellow denotes that character, I have learned to only do what pleases God and live by example, always feeding upon His word, and He will, at His timing, bring you to the same desire to know Him.
And in closing, I just realized that there were two more stuffed toys in my menagerie, both bulls. Interestingly, one standing, as if goring the other, a fully flat out bull on its all fours, looking pretty perplexed, as if never expecting its demise. There were no bears nearby, but I do have a bear at the other side of my room, standing on a signage that state categorically,"beware of bears" but located quite far away from the bulls to matter, or does it?
'And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.'
Luke 10:41-42
A little testimony
-----------------------
A note of thanks to some of you who sent me words of encouragement to remain steadfast(after my last sharing( Reflections #29 Noah's Ark revisited), much as I was about ready to tear about the ropes that were holding me back from dashing my head against the rocks upon which the call of the Sirens emanate forth.
At lunchtime yesterday, as I spent time with the Lord, He brought me to revisit Reflections#6 Amnesia and it did surprise me that the first verse in that Reflection was also about Noah, but about how God remembered him and the saved, after the flood. I am reminded that much as we sometimes feel that God has forgotten about us, the fact is that He has never left the faithful or even the unbelieving.
I was next brought to Psalm 73(Asaph) and I truly felt convicted of my sinfulness, just like Aseph, who was angry with God for rewarding the sinful, yet seemingly neglecting the faithful. Like Asaph, only in coming unto the presence of God, did he finally understood the will of God.
With that God given peace and resoluteness, after lunch, I finally completed whatever I needed and could sell in my investments, instead of waiting for that one more push up that I believe will occur, and while markets could go higher in the short term, it was interesting that 1 minute after I completed my sale, the markets took a signficant dip on rumours of tightening of credit in China, the key driver in this liquidity driven recovery these past few months.
Our relationship with God is not about what we think, but His will. And in letting Him, our faith will grow for we will no longer deprive ourselves of seeing God's wonderful hands at work.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Reflections for the moment #29 Noah's Ark revisited (27july09)
Dear….
'By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. Which sometimes were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water….'
1 Peter 3:19-20
Contrary to general perception, the world at least the investing community do have good memories. They do remember with fond confidence, how the ex Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan singlehandedly helped America and as a consequence, the rest of the world to more than recover economically, after the year 2000 debacle of the twin illusions of internet and lifesciences. Of course, we know now that he simply deferred the problems by converting mortgages to cash for every insatiable American consumer. Today, green with envy 90% of the world might be, having missed largely the big turnaround in asset prices since March 2009 to present, but should all credit be given to Bernanke, the present US Federal Chairman for this "miracle?" where Greenspan's subprime legacy has not sunk the world as yet?
The world has increasingly come to believe that just like the post technology bubble crash was painful but short, so would the sub-prime debacle be a brief disruption to the glorious future.
But are we doing a Greenspan sequel, difference being that a few short years from now, it might not be banks that collapse, but confidence in governments?
'Beware of false prophets….in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.'
Matthew 7:15
But miracles can also be a delusion, for by its very nature, a miracle cannot be explained by normal human rationale. If it is from God, then we don't need the finite human understanding to provide legitimacy to its acceptance. So, is this present strong market momentum a miracle or is it engineered by an unholy alliance of government fiscal irresponsibility, rah, rah bullish analytical concoctions of a resurrected financial and property market brewed in the storied towers of the same people responsible for our recent and still very present problems(at least in the insipid real economy), and a world awashed with liquidity that is now channelled to the hands of the same few financial coterie, who happily use it to make some serious monies in the till recently self destructed financial markets. And of course, not forgetting the income hungry, herd mentality of the masses, who are starved of any real interest income from the present near zero interest rates.
'The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save…(But) your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.'
Isaiah 59:1-2
Noah must have looked real silly, busy building an ark, in an environment of great gaeity and where the world of his time were intoxicated with their sinful lusts, and if there was any drowning, it was more associated with drunken stupor than real flood waters.
The world today looks increasingly ready to ditch the brief spell of sobriety from the consequences of determined asset destruction and are ready to party again, for who can resist the lure of wealth creation that is very palpable today? Frustration at missing out, rather than fear of furthur financial incapacitation is the underlying tone of emotions in the general investing public today.
But are we 'hearing' God right? Or are we continuing to repeat the same mistakes of a lust driven heart?
'His fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.
2 Chronicles 26:15
Much as I believe that God is honoring His promise to me, made in April this year(quite implausible then), that He will restore the lost value of investments I have made in 2008, in disobedience to His will, and in fact, God has indeed restored by now close to 70% of the previous asset decline(see excerpt below of God's promise made in April 09)
(excerpt from Reflections for the moment #6 Amnesia dated 14th April 2009)
The Lord placed the thought in my heart yesterday. Will I be prepared to commit the financial blessings that He will surely bless me with these next few weeks. The stockmarkets have entered the rising momentum of hope. Delusion it will be but it will soon suck in many more who are still sceptical but increasingly finding it difficult to continue to resist the lure of the rising prices, and to come to grief again, given that the move up is more attributable to liquidity and man's machinations than a genuine improvement in values.
The time to harvest the "instant growth seeds" that the Lord has led me to plant in the stockmarkets these past few days is not now, but it will not be long.
Will I be prepared to deny myself of hoarding the realized gains of the next few weeks and instead, take up the cross like Christ in using the gains that I will receive to do His work? It might be easy to say yes, for I have not seen the fruits yet, but will it be easy when God honours His promise, and will I obey as I have committed? Or would l in the midst of my blessings have a sudden memory loss?
Today, in July, I am basking in the midst of His grace, yet my sinful self find it increasingly difficult to resist the siren call of this irrational but yet alluring rising market momentum. God is good. He will not allow us to err, for if we seek Him, we will "hear" His correction and His guidance. God reminded me in 2 Chronicles 26:15 how easy and often it is for us who are blessed to forget our Provider and much as our mouth might praise God, our hearts has takened on a mind of its own. We start to play "God" without realizing it or at least, choose to follow other "gods" be it our greed, pride, fear, envy or whatever grips our lustful hearts.
'Neglect not the gift that is in thee….Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt save thyself, and them that hear thee.'
1 Timothy 4:14-16
Time with God is an often harped phrase I have used lately in my sharings. But it is not because I love to nag, but rather, any lagging on our part in this very important command from God, will guarantee one's moving away from our Lord and the inevitable painful consequences, for ships that lose their moorings will flounder upon the treachearous rocks.
Like the Greeks of old, like many today, I find it increasingly illogical not to throw in the towel of prudence and not jump into what is clearly a momentum of optimism and short term profit opportunities that like many, we believe we should be able to get out of before the ship hits the rocks. The call of the Siren of greed and our own self deceiving mind is too hard to resist, even if common sense dictate otherwise.
'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.'
Revelation 3:19
'The fear of the Lord leads to life; Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.'
Proverbs 19:23
The Lord our God has reminded me oft enough to continue the building of my Ark of stewardship, contentment and obedience, much as the world might think otherwise and much as no imminent floods seems to be on the horizon. Foolish as it might be, to remain in low yielding cash, to continue to sell into rising prices and to buy only if intrinsic value justifies, is definitely not sensible nor possible in today's context. Or is it not?
Moot point it might be, but when God speaks to us, we must obey and thankful I am that though God rebukes, He corrects and He allowed me to atone for my past silliness. Much as I am like the horse tethered on a pole, yet dying to break free or more like to re-enter into the realm of my own understanding and sinful lusts, our Good Lord has ingrained in my heart, this steadfastness to continue to build my Ark that rest upon His will, for only He will know when the floods will come, and it will surely come, for governments have turned on the taps of liquidity and will continue to flood the world with its ill discipline, just as the masses today are flooding to their utopic delusions, like lemmings over the clift.
'For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, Who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe…'
1 Timothy 4:10
'Be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.'
1 Timothy 4:12
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(27 July 2009)
'By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. Which sometimes were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water….'
1 Peter 3:19-20
Contrary to general perception, the world at least the investing community do have good memories. They do remember with fond confidence, how the ex Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan singlehandedly helped America and as a consequence, the rest of the world to more than recover economically, after the year 2000 debacle of the twin illusions of internet and lifesciences. Of course, we know now that he simply deferred the problems by converting mortgages to cash for every insatiable American consumer. Today, green with envy 90% of the world might be, having missed largely the big turnaround in asset prices since March 2009 to present, but should all credit be given to Bernanke, the present US Federal Chairman for this "miracle?" where Greenspan's subprime legacy has not sunk the world as yet?
The world has increasingly come to believe that just like the post technology bubble crash was painful but short, so would the sub-prime debacle be a brief disruption to the glorious future.
But are we doing a Greenspan sequel, difference being that a few short years from now, it might not be banks that collapse, but confidence in governments?
'Beware of false prophets….in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.'
Matthew 7:15
But miracles can also be a delusion, for by its very nature, a miracle cannot be explained by normal human rationale. If it is from God, then we don't need the finite human understanding to provide legitimacy to its acceptance. So, is this present strong market momentum a miracle or is it engineered by an unholy alliance of government fiscal irresponsibility, rah, rah bullish analytical concoctions of a resurrected financial and property market brewed in the storied towers of the same people responsible for our recent and still very present problems(at least in the insipid real economy), and a world awashed with liquidity that is now channelled to the hands of the same few financial coterie, who happily use it to make some serious monies in the till recently self destructed financial markets. And of course, not forgetting the income hungry, herd mentality of the masses, who are starved of any real interest income from the present near zero interest rates.
'The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save…(But) your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.'
Isaiah 59:1-2
Noah must have looked real silly, busy building an ark, in an environment of great gaeity and where the world of his time were intoxicated with their sinful lusts, and if there was any drowning, it was more associated with drunken stupor than real flood waters.
The world today looks increasingly ready to ditch the brief spell of sobriety from the consequences of determined asset destruction and are ready to party again, for who can resist the lure of wealth creation that is very palpable today? Frustration at missing out, rather than fear of furthur financial incapacitation is the underlying tone of emotions in the general investing public today.
But are we 'hearing' God right? Or are we continuing to repeat the same mistakes of a lust driven heart?
'His fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.
2 Chronicles 26:15
Much as I believe that God is honoring His promise to me, made in April this year(quite implausible then), that He will restore the lost value of investments I have made in 2008, in disobedience to His will, and in fact, God has indeed restored by now close to 70% of the previous asset decline(see excerpt below of God's promise made in April 09)
(excerpt from Reflections for the moment #6 Amnesia dated 14th April 2009)
The Lord placed the thought in my heart yesterday. Will I be prepared to commit the financial blessings that He will surely bless me with these next few weeks. The stockmarkets have entered the rising momentum of hope. Delusion it will be but it will soon suck in many more who are still sceptical but increasingly finding it difficult to continue to resist the lure of the rising prices, and to come to grief again, given that the move up is more attributable to liquidity and man's machinations than a genuine improvement in values.
The time to harvest the "instant growth seeds" that the Lord has led me to plant in the stockmarkets these past few days is not now, but it will not be long.
Will I be prepared to deny myself of hoarding the realized gains of the next few weeks and instead, take up the cross like Christ in using the gains that I will receive to do His work? It might be easy to say yes, for I have not seen the fruits yet, but will it be easy when God honours His promise, and will I obey as I have committed? Or would l in the midst of my blessings have a sudden memory loss?
Today, in July, I am basking in the midst of His grace, yet my sinful self find it increasingly difficult to resist the siren call of this irrational but yet alluring rising market momentum. God is good. He will not allow us to err, for if we seek Him, we will "hear" His correction and His guidance. God reminded me in 2 Chronicles 26:15 how easy and often it is for us who are blessed to forget our Provider and much as our mouth might praise God, our hearts has takened on a mind of its own. We start to play "God" without realizing it or at least, choose to follow other "gods" be it our greed, pride, fear, envy or whatever grips our lustful hearts.
'Neglect not the gift that is in thee….Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt save thyself, and them that hear thee.'
1 Timothy 4:14-16
Time with God is an often harped phrase I have used lately in my sharings. But it is not because I love to nag, but rather, any lagging on our part in this very important command from God, will guarantee one's moving away from our Lord and the inevitable painful consequences, for ships that lose their moorings will flounder upon the treachearous rocks.
Like the Greeks of old, like many today, I find it increasingly illogical not to throw in the towel of prudence and not jump into what is clearly a momentum of optimism and short term profit opportunities that like many, we believe we should be able to get out of before the ship hits the rocks. The call of the Siren of greed and our own self deceiving mind is too hard to resist, even if common sense dictate otherwise.
'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.'
Revelation 3:19
'The fear of the Lord leads to life; Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.'
Proverbs 19:23
The Lord our God has reminded me oft enough to continue the building of my Ark of stewardship, contentment and obedience, much as the world might think otherwise and much as no imminent floods seems to be on the horizon. Foolish as it might be, to remain in low yielding cash, to continue to sell into rising prices and to buy only if intrinsic value justifies, is definitely not sensible nor possible in today's context. Or is it not?
Moot point it might be, but when God speaks to us, we must obey and thankful I am that though God rebukes, He corrects and He allowed me to atone for my past silliness. Much as I am like the horse tethered on a pole, yet dying to break free or more like to re-enter into the realm of my own understanding and sinful lusts, our Good Lord has ingrained in my heart, this steadfastness to continue to build my Ark that rest upon His will, for only He will know when the floods will come, and it will surely come, for governments have turned on the taps of liquidity and will continue to flood the world with its ill discipline, just as the masses today are flooding to their utopic delusions, like lemmings over the clift.
'For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, Who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe…'
1 Timothy 4:10
'Be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.'
1 Timothy 4:12
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(27 July 2009)
Friday, July 24, 2009
Reflections for the moment #28 : Twitter and dither(23jul09)
ear..
'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal is God, follow him.
But the people said nothing.'
1 Kings 18:21
President Obama popularized twittering. The tech-savvy younger generation Iranian protestors twittered their co-ordinated protests right under the bearded nose and nervous twitching eyes of the Ayatollahs. Great Walls are no longer effective and the Chinese had to scale back their plans to build a Red Wall on the internet, purportedly to keep out non-desirable traffic.
Technology has truly empowered the masses. It has already redistributed power. It was reported that a 15 year intern at one of the top American Investments houses wrote an insightful analysis of the telecommunications sector that was much sought after by money managers. Older foggies at the upper echelons of power are at a loss to fully understand the whimsical needs and wants of the internet savvy population.
'….It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.'
1 Kings 19:4
The prophet Elijah was a truly anointed man of God. He took his stand against one of the most evil royal couple in Israel's history, and overcame a multitude of false prophets, and was used by God to show His awesome presence. Yet, just after the height of his glory, or rather, his being used by God to show His power, Elijah was a frightened and almost broken man, who wanted to give up and die.
'…And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.'
1 Kings 19:12-17
The story of Elijah was where the Lord brought me to two weeks back, as I pondered upon the possibility of scaling back from the few varied ministries that He has placed me in these past few years. Consciously tired I was not, but maybe subconsciously, the frays are starting to show. The Lord brought me to 1 Kings 19, which talks about how God will bring us out of our despair. And how it is in the stillness of our hearts, that we will hear the voice of our Lord. In the same chapter, God used Elijah to anoint his helpers as well as Elisha, his replacement.
Clearly, God knows our needs, and He will walk with us, He will provide. But is there anything else for me to reflect upon?
Interestingly, on one of those rare occasions that I attend the Saturday evening service, instead of the Sunday morning service in church, it happened to be Youth week and the sermon shared by the Youth Ministry chairperson, was taken from this same story about Prophet Elijah, difference was that it was one chapter earlier, ie 1 Kings 18, and it was on his moment of glory, rather than the despair as shared above.
The speaker shared 3 key points on Elijah
(note: the regular font sentence following each key point in bold shared by the speaker are my own thoughts)
- He stood his ground in his faith in God, despite the overwhelming odds
Eiijah looked resolutely to God and not upon men or his own understanding
'Then said Elijah unto the people, I ,even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Ba'al's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.'
1 Kings 18:22
- He repaired and built an altar to God
Should we not do the same in terms of correcting what we can control, ie ourselves, rather than despair over the sinfulness of others?
'And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord..'
1 Kings 18:32
- He connected to God
Only time with God, can keep us aligned to His will
'..and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?'
1 Kings 19:12-13
As believers and followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our weakness, we often revert back to our own understanding to define our relationship with our Sovereign God. We must learn to stay rooted upon the Lord our God, in the ways Christ has taught us. Which is, in prayers, in His words, in His works till He shows us otherwise.
'Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.'
Ephesians 4:23
But can we stay firm and run forth with our Lord, if our very foundations are structurally flawed? We must be prepared to always respond as the Spirit leads, to allow God to make right our wrongs, to anchor us spiritually upon Him, so that no storms will shake our faith in Him.
But how can we be changed, when we do not even know what needs to be changed? The world today with its new fangled technology gives no one any excuse not to stay connected, but yet, reality is, connection amongst humans is intense at the superficial level, and goes no furthur than skin-deep.
An old world dinosaur like me(at least that what my son thinks) is finally into Twitter. At least if you count signing up as proof of sophistication. Seems like a simple concept with one simple question "What are you doing ?". And in Twitter, you either do the following or be the one leading or both.
'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.'
Psalm 53:1
We all have "god or gods" in our pysche. Even the professed secular men, for his god is what he see in the mirror everyday!!
It is who you want to follow and respond to? Man will continue to make new discoveries or originate new ideas, for necessity is the mother of invention. But reality is our Sovereign God has already put in place His handiwork, it is just when our eyes are opened to the possibilities, and whether we are willing to step onto the paths He has set before us?
'God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God..'
Psalm 53:2
God looks at our heart, His Spirit resides in the heart of those who believe, but are we willing to heed the Holy Spirit's leading? Is that not twittering?
'Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.'
Philippians 2:12-13
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(24 July 2009)
And what about dither??
'And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just: to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'
Luke 1:17
Dither in a negative sense is to imply a state of confusion, an agitated state. If you believe in God, you must be resolute in following His leading and not let your own understanding or Satan's delusions lead you astray and awry.
But dither has a more meaningful and positive usage. Its origin was the incorporation of vibration ("dither") into computers used in aviation to improve their accuracy. Like the Prophet Elijah, being imperfect, we will have spasms of nervousness, where our clinging on to God shakes. But our God given resoluteness, vibrancy and compassion in living our faith is not just what God will look for in us, but He will provide, if we allow Him. And life is indeed heavenly when we allow God to use us to be that dither that brings a sharpened focus in the lives of others He places in our lives, as they twitter as the Lord leads, and follow no others
'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal is God, follow him.
But the people said nothing.'
1 Kings 18:21
President Obama popularized twittering. The tech-savvy younger generation Iranian protestors twittered their co-ordinated protests right under the bearded nose and nervous twitching eyes of the Ayatollahs. Great Walls are no longer effective and the Chinese had to scale back their plans to build a Red Wall on the internet, purportedly to keep out non-desirable traffic.
Technology has truly empowered the masses. It has already redistributed power. It was reported that a 15 year intern at one of the top American Investments houses wrote an insightful analysis of the telecommunications sector that was much sought after by money managers. Older foggies at the upper echelons of power are at a loss to fully understand the whimsical needs and wants of the internet savvy population.
'….It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.'
1 Kings 19:4
The prophet Elijah was a truly anointed man of God. He took his stand against one of the most evil royal couple in Israel's history, and overcame a multitude of false prophets, and was used by God to show His awesome presence. Yet, just after the height of his glory, or rather, his being used by God to show His power, Elijah was a frightened and almost broken man, who wanted to give up and die.
'…And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.'
1 Kings 19:12-17
The story of Elijah was where the Lord brought me to two weeks back, as I pondered upon the possibility of scaling back from the few varied ministries that He has placed me in these past few years. Consciously tired I was not, but maybe subconsciously, the frays are starting to show. The Lord brought me to 1 Kings 19, which talks about how God will bring us out of our despair. And how it is in the stillness of our hearts, that we will hear the voice of our Lord. In the same chapter, God used Elijah to anoint his helpers as well as Elisha, his replacement.
Clearly, God knows our needs, and He will walk with us, He will provide. But is there anything else for me to reflect upon?
Interestingly, on one of those rare occasions that I attend the Saturday evening service, instead of the Sunday morning service in church, it happened to be Youth week and the sermon shared by the Youth Ministry chairperson, was taken from this same story about Prophet Elijah, difference was that it was one chapter earlier, ie 1 Kings 18, and it was on his moment of glory, rather than the despair as shared above.
The speaker shared 3 key points on Elijah
(note: the regular font sentence following each key point in bold shared by the speaker are my own thoughts)
- He stood his ground in his faith in God, despite the overwhelming odds
Eiijah looked resolutely to God and not upon men or his own understanding
'Then said Elijah unto the people, I ,even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Ba'al's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.'
1 Kings 18:22
- He repaired and built an altar to God
Should we not do the same in terms of correcting what we can control, ie ourselves, rather than despair over the sinfulness of others?
'And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord..'
1 Kings 18:32
- He connected to God
Only time with God, can keep us aligned to His will
'..and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?'
1 Kings 19:12-13
As believers and followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our weakness, we often revert back to our own understanding to define our relationship with our Sovereign God. We must learn to stay rooted upon the Lord our God, in the ways Christ has taught us. Which is, in prayers, in His words, in His works till He shows us otherwise.
'Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.'
Ephesians 4:23
But can we stay firm and run forth with our Lord, if our very foundations are structurally flawed? We must be prepared to always respond as the Spirit leads, to allow God to make right our wrongs, to anchor us spiritually upon Him, so that no storms will shake our faith in Him.
But how can we be changed, when we do not even know what needs to be changed? The world today with its new fangled technology gives no one any excuse not to stay connected, but yet, reality is, connection amongst humans is intense at the superficial level, and goes no furthur than skin-deep.
An old world dinosaur like me(at least that what my son thinks) is finally into Twitter. At least if you count signing up as proof of sophistication. Seems like a simple concept with one simple question "What are you doing ?". And in Twitter, you either do the following or be the one leading or both.
'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.'
Psalm 53:1
We all have "god or gods" in our pysche. Even the professed secular men, for his god is what he see in the mirror everyday!!
It is who you want to follow and respond to? Man will continue to make new discoveries or originate new ideas, for necessity is the mother of invention. But reality is our Sovereign God has already put in place His handiwork, it is just when our eyes are opened to the possibilities, and whether we are willing to step onto the paths He has set before us?
'God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God..'
Psalm 53:2
God looks at our heart, His Spirit resides in the heart of those who believe, but are we willing to heed the Holy Spirit's leading? Is that not twittering?
'Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.'
Philippians 2:12-13
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(24 July 2009)
And what about dither??
'And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just: to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'
Luke 1:17
Dither in a negative sense is to imply a state of confusion, an agitated state. If you believe in God, you must be resolute in following His leading and not let your own understanding or Satan's delusions lead you astray and awry.
But dither has a more meaningful and positive usage. Its origin was the incorporation of vibration ("dither") into computers used in aviation to improve their accuracy. Like the Prophet Elijah, being imperfect, we will have spasms of nervousness, where our clinging on to God shakes. But our God given resoluteness, vibrancy and compassion in living our faith is not just what God will look for in us, but He will provide, if we allow Him. And life is indeed heavenly when we allow God to use us to be that dither that brings a sharpened focus in the lives of others He places in our lives, as they twitter as the Lord leads, and follow no others
Reflections for the moment #27 Handouts(19jul09)
Dear…
'These wait all for Thee. That thou mayest give them their food in due season. Thou givest unto them, they gather. Thou openest Thy hand, they are satisfied with good…'
Psalm 104:27-28
Not too sure if those bite size tidbits of prayerfully Spirit led thoughts in my two sharings back, "Food for thought #25" were more easily digestible, but here is the concluding attempt at brevity.
A dear relative of mind told me recently that a common friend of ours( All three of us did not even know the connection till recently) has been encouraging him to consider being a Christian. My relative told me that he will not mind being a Christian if it means that he will have the same "materially comfortable" and seemingly carefree life as this Christian friend of ours.
'That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.'
1 Peter 4:2
Food on the table for most of us is just a question of what you have stored at home, from purchases made from the markets or supermarkets. This is quite unlike men of old, who needed to make a fresh catch every day, when hunting precedes the agrarian society, and industrialization was unheard of.
Does being a believer and follower of our Lord Jesus Christ mean a rewinding of the clock, even furthur back, where like the disobedient Isrealites of old, God provided manna, suffice for the day, and in between, the Isrealites spend the day or rather the next 40 years wandering in the desert, as the Lord leads?
Is life purposeful if one spends time doing "nothing" of great utility as measured by the world, for in the eyes of the world, time with God is no different from one wandering in the desert, seemingly aimlessly, when life in our present world seems to have so much to offer?
'But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.'
1 Peter 4:7
Prayer is an activity I have come not just to value, but hunger for every day. Reading the Lord's word and pondering upon the thoughts He placed in my heart encapsulates a large part of my day as well. And you might not have read everything I sent you, but my prodigious efforts at writing earns me no income, but it is a response as the Holy Spirit prompts. One writes not to assuage one's conscience for the many undeserved blessings from the Lord, but rather, it is a response to the call of our Lord. For there are indeed many things to do in the desert of this sinful world that we are all in.
'As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.'
1 Peter 4:10
Is it the horse before the cart, or the other way round? We the imperfect are living in a fallen world. Yet in believing, Heaven is with us, for the Spirit of God resides in us. But Heaven is not the lust driven utopia that the devil presents. Heaven is truly knowing that God provides, that beyond the provisions is our Provider. If we understand and believe in the promise of our Father, we will start and live through the day not worrying nor wanting, but rather waiting upon the Lord.
Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled, Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth.'
Psalm 104:29-30
The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever; the Lord shall rejoice in His works.'
Psalm 104:31
And it is not about handouts to meet our carnal needs, but rather, to trust in the Lord to cut us out in His mould. And if it means doing things that seem contrary to our finite and imperfect understanding of what constitutes a good day's work, so be it.
For the Isrealites had to wander, seemingly aimlessly for forty years, before God brought some of them into the promised land. Should we be different and spent much time ado about what is really temporal?
'Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you.'
Deuteronomy 12:8-9
'All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust…..Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion, for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?'
Ecclesiastes 3:20-22
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(22th July 2009)
And what about financial markets?
Like in March, most are dying. Difference is that in March, most were being buried by their past overzealous optimism. Today, most are dying from frustration of missing out on the big moves in the financial markets as well as the property markets. But are we truly worse off in missing out? Reality is, many of us have recovered a substantial portion of the value of our present material worth. Should we not be thankful and while we wait upon the Lord's leading, that we take the lead in honoring God's grace by sharing some of these recovered fruits?'
'
'These wait all for Thee. That thou mayest give them their food in due season. Thou givest unto them, they gather. Thou openest Thy hand, they are satisfied with good…'
Psalm 104:27-28
Not too sure if those bite size tidbits of prayerfully Spirit led thoughts in my two sharings back, "Food for thought #25" were more easily digestible, but here is the concluding attempt at brevity.
A dear relative of mind told me recently that a common friend of ours( All three of us did not even know the connection till recently) has been encouraging him to consider being a Christian. My relative told me that he will not mind being a Christian if it means that he will have the same "materially comfortable" and seemingly carefree life as this Christian friend of ours.
'That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.'
1 Peter 4:2
Food on the table for most of us is just a question of what you have stored at home, from purchases made from the markets or supermarkets. This is quite unlike men of old, who needed to make a fresh catch every day, when hunting precedes the agrarian society, and industrialization was unheard of.
Does being a believer and follower of our Lord Jesus Christ mean a rewinding of the clock, even furthur back, where like the disobedient Isrealites of old, God provided manna, suffice for the day, and in between, the Isrealites spend the day or rather the next 40 years wandering in the desert, as the Lord leads?
Is life purposeful if one spends time doing "nothing" of great utility as measured by the world, for in the eyes of the world, time with God is no different from one wandering in the desert, seemingly aimlessly, when life in our present world seems to have so much to offer?
'But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.'
1 Peter 4:7
Prayer is an activity I have come not just to value, but hunger for every day. Reading the Lord's word and pondering upon the thoughts He placed in my heart encapsulates a large part of my day as well. And you might not have read everything I sent you, but my prodigious efforts at writing earns me no income, but it is a response as the Holy Spirit prompts. One writes not to assuage one's conscience for the many undeserved blessings from the Lord, but rather, it is a response to the call of our Lord. For there are indeed many things to do in the desert of this sinful world that we are all in.
'As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.'
1 Peter 4:10
Is it the horse before the cart, or the other way round? We the imperfect are living in a fallen world. Yet in believing, Heaven is with us, for the Spirit of God resides in us. But Heaven is not the lust driven utopia that the devil presents. Heaven is truly knowing that God provides, that beyond the provisions is our Provider. If we understand and believe in the promise of our Father, we will start and live through the day not worrying nor wanting, but rather waiting upon the Lord.
Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled, Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth.'
Psalm 104:29-30
The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever; the Lord shall rejoice in His works.'
Psalm 104:31
And it is not about handouts to meet our carnal needs, but rather, to trust in the Lord to cut us out in His mould. And if it means doing things that seem contrary to our finite and imperfect understanding of what constitutes a good day's work, so be it.
For the Isrealites had to wander, seemingly aimlessly for forty years, before God brought some of them into the promised land. Should we be different and spent much time ado about what is really temporal?
'Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you.'
Deuteronomy 12:8-9
'All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust…..Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion, for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?'
Ecclesiastes 3:20-22
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(22th July 2009)
And what about financial markets?
Like in March, most are dying. Difference is that in March, most were being buried by their past overzealous optimism. Today, most are dying from frustration of missing out on the big moves in the financial markets as well as the property markets. But are we truly worse off in missing out? Reality is, many of us have recovered a substantial portion of the value of our present material worth. Should we not be thankful and while we wait upon the Lord's leading, that we take the lead in honoring God's grace by sharing some of these recovered fruits?'
'
Friday, July 17, 2009
Reflections for the moment #26 Icon (18th July 2009)
Do not remember the former things. Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it. I will even make a way in the wilderness, and the rivers in the desert?'
Isaiah 43:18-19
By now, most would have heard of Michael Jackson. But how many of us have heard of or remembered who Alex Comfort was? Alex died in year 2000. Many of us, who might have confused our present paunch for our past youthful panache, might still experience a rush of adrenaline in our hearts, when we recall with fondness or more like lust, the recently departed Farrah Fawcett. And does anyone remember Lee Majors, the "Bionic Man," a once popular television series(1974-1978) starring Farrah's ex husband, also known as the "Six Miillion Dollar" man.
Compared to today's billions going down the drain from continued government efforts to refloat the listing financial system, six million dollars is definitely small change to reconfigure a man of flesh into a mix of flesh and bionics.
An icon as defined in the Wikepedia is a name, face, picture, edifice or even a person readily recognized as having some well-known significance or embodying certain qualities: one thing, an image or depiction, that represents something else of greater significance through literal or figurative meaning, usually associated with religious, cultural, political, or economic standing.
The book "The Joy of Sex, published in 1979, might have better luck in triggering or if not, at least stirring that long subsumed carnality in all of us. Published almost 40 years back, in 1979, the book became the procreation guide to intimate discovery and experimentation for a generation of adults and wet in the ears schoolboys of my time. Controversy it did stir globally, and it must have been a while since the earlier equally controversial 1928 book, "Lady Chatterly's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence had a similar impact on superficially strait laced post Victorian society. In today's liberated context or more like devil may care attitude, this book by Alex Comfort seemed almost sterile.
This is about all that I will indulge in the realm of carnal passion, and it is time to come to the real intent for introducing such "racy" literature in my short nostalgic spin. But first, for old times sake, just a little side track. Some of you might have heard lately on radio or television, a little ditty for an advertisement which used a popular song made famous by once famous 1970s soul group, "The Stylistics." Guess back then, Afro hairdos and bell bottom pants were the in thing. My children are not into wearing wigs yet but they seem to love this song and I am hearing it quite often lately thanks to them
'..you believe in Him and are filled with an unspeakable and glorious joy.'
1 Peter 1:8
Karl Marx, though never statesque, is now a statue. I do believe with the tumbling of the Berlin Wall, his statues did remain in many parts of the far flung Soviet Empire. A let down it might be for some, I do apologise, for so quickly shifting from the hip and the sleek iconic symbols of the 1970s to the dull and dour idealism as embodied by the foundational father of communism.
But Marx in the era of his time did offer hope, not sure about joy though, to the many disaffected and disgruntled masses in the old Tsarist Russia, where the chasm between the privilege capitalist class "bourgeoisie" and the peripheral working class "proletariat" (even though the latter forms the bulk of the population) is wider than the broadest ocean.
But how many have heard of Marx? And how many in the world are still in the past few years, incorrectly associating caricatures of Mao Tse Tung and the like,with the till recent frenzy with Chinese contemporary art, without appreciating the iconic stature of this man whose actions impacted the most populous country in the world, and indirectly all of us?
'That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children.
That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.''
Psalms 78:6-7
In the 1970s, I was already a believer, or at least I thought I was!! But like most today, really not fully comprehending nor giving two hoots to what that signifies. But I did remember the 1970 rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar." by Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice. We were in a world that was coming out of the drug induced go go days of the '60s and maybe there was a need to go back to our source of comfort but yet a need to repackage Christ to meet our comfort zone.
As imperfect men, we are always looking for that perfect icon or icons that would appeal to us, albeit temporarily. Like the greyhounds on the race track, we are always striving and strifing to attain or in their case, catch the mechanical rabbit, which is always just out of the reach of the lead hound. And even like the hounds, if for some reason we do manage to grasp our prey, like them, we will realize that it is not a real rabbit, but a delusion.
'And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.'
Ephesians 4:24
What in the world are we here for? Like many, it was a question that till recently, I could never answer with certainty or full confidence. And I was always looking for and at the wrong icons. But now I can, for till God's love fell into my heart through the Holy Spirit, I could not.
'Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.'
Philippians 3:21
It is time to look within, and not without. For in believing, the Spirit of God resides in our hearts. In following faithfully, we allow God to transform us into His likeness. Iconic or not, would it not be our calling that the world see Christ in us?
'If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.'
Galatians 5:25
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(18July09)
Isaiah 43:18-19
By now, most would have heard of Michael Jackson. But how many of us have heard of or remembered who Alex Comfort was? Alex died in year 2000. Many of us, who might have confused our present paunch for our past youthful panache, might still experience a rush of adrenaline in our hearts, when we recall with fondness or more like lust, the recently departed Farrah Fawcett. And does anyone remember Lee Majors, the "Bionic Man," a once popular television series(1974-1978) starring Farrah's ex husband, also known as the "Six Miillion Dollar" man.
Compared to today's billions going down the drain from continued government efforts to refloat the listing financial system, six million dollars is definitely small change to reconfigure a man of flesh into a mix of flesh and bionics.
An icon as defined in the Wikepedia is a name, face, picture, edifice or even a person readily recognized as having some well-known significance or embodying certain qualities: one thing, an image or depiction, that represents something else of greater significance through literal or figurative meaning, usually associated with religious, cultural, political, or economic standing.
The book "The Joy of Sex, published in 1979, might have better luck in triggering or if not, at least stirring that long subsumed carnality in all of us. Published almost 40 years back, in 1979, the book became the procreation guide to intimate discovery and experimentation for a generation of adults and wet in the ears schoolboys of my time. Controversy it did stir globally, and it must have been a while since the earlier equally controversial 1928 book, "Lady Chatterly's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence had a similar impact on superficially strait laced post Victorian society. In today's liberated context or more like devil may care attitude, this book by Alex Comfort seemed almost sterile.
This is about all that I will indulge in the realm of carnal passion, and it is time to come to the real intent for introducing such "racy" literature in my short nostalgic spin. But first, for old times sake, just a little side track. Some of you might have heard lately on radio or television, a little ditty for an advertisement which used a popular song made famous by once famous 1970s soul group, "The Stylistics." Guess back then, Afro hairdos and bell bottom pants were the in thing. My children are not into wearing wigs yet but they seem to love this song and I am hearing it quite often lately thanks to them
'..you believe in Him and are filled with an unspeakable and glorious joy.'
1 Peter 1:8
Karl Marx, though never statesque, is now a statue. I do believe with the tumbling of the Berlin Wall, his statues did remain in many parts of the far flung Soviet Empire. A let down it might be for some, I do apologise, for so quickly shifting from the hip and the sleek iconic symbols of the 1970s to the dull and dour idealism as embodied by the foundational father of communism.
But Marx in the era of his time did offer hope, not sure about joy though, to the many disaffected and disgruntled masses in the old Tsarist Russia, where the chasm between the privilege capitalist class "bourgeoisie" and the peripheral working class "proletariat" (even though the latter forms the bulk of the population) is wider than the broadest ocean.
But how many have heard of Marx? And how many in the world are still in the past few years, incorrectly associating caricatures of Mao Tse Tung and the like,with the till recent frenzy with Chinese contemporary art, without appreciating the iconic stature of this man whose actions impacted the most populous country in the world, and indirectly all of us?
'That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children.
That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.''
Psalms 78:6-7
In the 1970s, I was already a believer, or at least I thought I was!! But like most today, really not fully comprehending nor giving two hoots to what that signifies. But I did remember the 1970 rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar." by Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice. We were in a world that was coming out of the drug induced go go days of the '60s and maybe there was a need to go back to our source of comfort but yet a need to repackage Christ to meet our comfort zone.
As imperfect men, we are always looking for that perfect icon or icons that would appeal to us, albeit temporarily. Like the greyhounds on the race track, we are always striving and strifing to attain or in their case, catch the mechanical rabbit, which is always just out of the reach of the lead hound. And even like the hounds, if for some reason we do manage to grasp our prey, like them, we will realize that it is not a real rabbit, but a delusion.
'And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.'
Ephesians 4:24
What in the world are we here for? Like many, it was a question that till recently, I could never answer with certainty or full confidence. And I was always looking for and at the wrong icons. But now I can, for till God's love fell into my heart through the Holy Spirit, I could not.
'Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.'
Philippians 3:21
It is time to look within, and not without. For in believing, the Spirit of God resides in our hearts. In following faithfully, we allow God to transform us into His likeness. Iconic or not, would it not be our calling that the world see Christ in us?
'If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.'
Galatians 5:25
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(18July09)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Reflections for the moment #25 Food for thought (15july09)
ubject: Reflections for the moment #25 Food for thought
Dear…
'Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.'
Psalm 73:25-26
I am not sure if I am a victim of my own meanderings, but have to apologize to all for some pretty heavy going stuff these past few months. Reflections for the moment is the 3rd series of my blessed journey with our Lord(the first being "My walk with the Lord, followed by "Running the race"). The premise for "Reflections" was for one to take time to ponder, a step back unto the presence of our Sovereign God, away from the seemingly purposeful but meaningless legwork that we do every moment in our waking hours, in our futile attempt to bring certainty to what is an uncertain world, yet, not working on our eternal life, but instead channeling our all to what is temporal.
"Reflections" was intended to be more concise, but somehow, the many myriad thoughts in my mind needed that little more space. And maybe till recently, it was justifiable for the world was indeed groaning under its diverse burdens. Things do look a little brighter now, but is it another illuminating delusion?
Let me at least for this once, try to be succinctly brief.
This lunchtime, on the way to church, I happened to catch snatches on radio, of a short program on eating healthier. The presenter talked about what is quite a well known belief, that eating fish oil, specificially those that contain Omega 3 is not just good for health, but helps relieve stress. Not too sure if it is because after eating fish, we feel swimmingly better, our emotions are less volatile.
Peace and joy is what most longed for, worked at, but never seem to satisfy. But with men, it is impossible, with God all things are possible. And I was reminded of the verse, when God stated clearly, that He was the Alpha and the Omega. Maybe Omega 3 should be more apt to mean the Holy Trinity ie the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
'Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last…"
Revelation 1:11
For good bones and I am not sure about what else, a good dosage of Vitamin D is always strongly recommended for the body. But the same program talked about looking to the natural, rather than what most people do at the moment, relying too much on fortified food in bread, cereals and milk. Time out in the Sun will give us the Vitamin D we need, but of course, too much of a good thing is possibly harmful, unless you love to get skin cancer.
'And Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'
Luke 3:4
But the more time with God, in fact, all the time in His light is on the contrary, good for our souls and ensures that we will navigate through the darkness of Satan's world safely and not fall victim to the devil's delusions and our own self-deceitfulness.
And finally, in keeping with the spirit of brevity, the last item mentioned in the same program was on the harmful effects of alcohol. Alcoholic spirits we all know, but what about the spiritual warfare that is ongoing in our midst? Ghosts there might not be, fallen angels there are aplenty. If one was to see the devil or his cronies in full grotesque form, there is no doubt you will leave your doubts about God in a hurry and seek Him fast. But the devil prefers to work through delusions(just like all the lovely packaging used to house alcohol), for how many of us will not be drunk in our lusts, greed or pride? And who will associate anger or deceit with the prodding of a troubling evil spirit than with our own emotional needs?
But the Holy Spirit is different. The Holy Spirit is sent by God, to stand in the gap, from the point of Jesus's departure to Heaven and till his subsequent second return. For those who truly believe in our Sovereign God, His Spirit resides in us, and will lead us.
'But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.'
Acts 1:8
How can you be sure? Take time with the Lord and you will know.
'And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight..'
1 John 3:19-24
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(15th July 2009)
Dear…
'Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.'
Psalm 73:25-26
I am not sure if I am a victim of my own meanderings, but have to apologize to all for some pretty heavy going stuff these past few months. Reflections for the moment is the 3rd series of my blessed journey with our Lord(the first being "My walk with the Lord, followed by "Running the race"). The premise for "Reflections" was for one to take time to ponder, a step back unto the presence of our Sovereign God, away from the seemingly purposeful but meaningless legwork that we do every moment in our waking hours, in our futile attempt to bring certainty to what is an uncertain world, yet, not working on our eternal life, but instead channeling our all to what is temporal.
"Reflections" was intended to be more concise, but somehow, the many myriad thoughts in my mind needed that little more space. And maybe till recently, it was justifiable for the world was indeed groaning under its diverse burdens. Things do look a little brighter now, but is it another illuminating delusion?
Let me at least for this once, try to be succinctly brief.
This lunchtime, on the way to church, I happened to catch snatches on radio, of a short program on eating healthier. The presenter talked about what is quite a well known belief, that eating fish oil, specificially those that contain Omega 3 is not just good for health, but helps relieve stress. Not too sure if it is because after eating fish, we feel swimmingly better, our emotions are less volatile.
Peace and joy is what most longed for, worked at, but never seem to satisfy. But with men, it is impossible, with God all things are possible. And I was reminded of the verse, when God stated clearly, that He was the Alpha and the Omega. Maybe Omega 3 should be more apt to mean the Holy Trinity ie the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
'Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last…"
Revelation 1:11
For good bones and I am not sure about what else, a good dosage of Vitamin D is always strongly recommended for the body. But the same program talked about looking to the natural, rather than what most people do at the moment, relying too much on fortified food in bread, cereals and milk. Time out in the Sun will give us the Vitamin D we need, but of course, too much of a good thing is possibly harmful, unless you love to get skin cancer.
'And Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'
Luke 3:4
But the more time with God, in fact, all the time in His light is on the contrary, good for our souls and ensures that we will navigate through the darkness of Satan's world safely and not fall victim to the devil's delusions and our own self-deceitfulness.
And finally, in keeping with the spirit of brevity, the last item mentioned in the same program was on the harmful effects of alcohol. Alcoholic spirits we all know, but what about the spiritual warfare that is ongoing in our midst? Ghosts there might not be, fallen angels there are aplenty. If one was to see the devil or his cronies in full grotesque form, there is no doubt you will leave your doubts about God in a hurry and seek Him fast. But the devil prefers to work through delusions(just like all the lovely packaging used to house alcohol), for how many of us will not be drunk in our lusts, greed or pride? And who will associate anger or deceit with the prodding of a troubling evil spirit than with our own emotional needs?
But the Holy Spirit is different. The Holy Spirit is sent by God, to stand in the gap, from the point of Jesus's departure to Heaven and till his subsequent second return. For those who truly believe in our Sovereign God, His Spirit resides in us, and will lead us.
'But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.'
Acts 1:8
How can you be sure? Take time with the Lord and you will know.
'And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight..'
1 John 3:19-24
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(15th July 2009)
Friday, July 10, 2009
Reflections for the moment #24 Heart (9july09)
Dear…
'Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light..'
John 12:35-36
If you were in Urumqi - Xinjiang, darkness have indeed descended upon your life. Maybe, for the Uighurs, darkness just got worse, for life was already bleak enough, as they feel increasingly displaced by the Han Chinese. On the otherhand, if you were a recent Han Chinese immigrant into the equivalent of "California" of the old wild west days of the United States, when settlers moved from the more developed East to the greener pastures of the untapped West, Xinjiang was the promised land but as the star now dimmed, as your world around you collapsed, it can be heartrending?
As a young child then, I lived through two race riots in Singapore, one in 1964 and the other in 1969. I was too young to fully fathom the serious implications then, for maybe fear was less prevalent than curiosity for me. In 1969, I was staying in a kampung( or village) where we were quite well balanced in terms of ethnicity and friendships. With the onset of frayed relationships, I remembered being relocated to my aunt's house a couple of km away, where my ethnicity was the majority. And for my friends in Hk, some of you might recall the 1967 riots, not a race riot, but rather a politically instigated one, a direct aftermath of the Cultural revolution in China.
Can a normally convivial soul transform into a heartless butcher when circumstances dictate? Shifting alliances probably is as old as the day Adam took the apple and decided to look at things from his own understanding, rather than from God's will. Race might be one obvious headline grabber when to comes to such conflagration, but other differentiating considerations are equally potent in leading to such demarcations of "them and us" Even in a homogeneous society like Japan, class divisions do exist and they still do. And of course, in the corporate world, while many might not physically kill each other, they do literally, for the backstabbing and the tribality is no less a reality.
Will the Chinese be able to recapture the harmony in Xinjiang? Or more like, can men ever live with each other peaceably, with nay hint of any simmering tensions that will eventually lead to major blowups? One possible answer is given by a once famous dictator," might rules" and old Yugoslavia is one good recent example, when the late dictator Tito was on top, Yuglosavia was a miraculously harmonious country; strangely out of character because the Balkans has always been a firekeg of ethnic rivlaries, and World War 1 started from an assassination that occurred there. Of course, with Tito's death, rump Yugoslavia no longer exist, and a decade back, men was closest to animals there.
'And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight..'
1 John 3:19-24
God is love. And God gave us two clear commands. To seek Him always. And to love others as much as ourselves.
Education is supposed to distinguish the civilized men from the brutal barbarians. But history has shown that education need not necessary equate humanity.For if so, we should not be witnessing the continued brutality men impose upon each other. And as Robert McNamara, the late architect of the Vietnam War realized late in his life, and tried to bring about some decency and common sense in the upper echelons of the US government, in their nuclear retaliation policy. For to only have a 15 minutes leadtime before possibly unleashing 2000 nuclear bombs on humanity is not exactly the most humane operating procedure to have.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly….But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night.'
Psalm 1:1-3
Peace and joy can only come when we come with a humble and contrite heart unto the presence of our Lord God. And this is not a one off effort, but rather a continued determined process of coming unto His presence. Only in doing that, will we be able to finally surrender our right to decide and judge, and let God take away the trigger that determine our flawed emotions, for imagine, if everyone plays judge, peace is never possible. We must decrease, and let God increase.
'Be imitators of God….And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us.'
Ephesians 5:1-2
Love from God does not stop with us. We must be willing to be used by Him to be the vehicle upon which His love spreads forth. It is not easy. Conflict comes whenever we feel aggrieved. That our needs have been ignored, our rights trampled upon. For the majority of us, it does take a while for our various angst to simmer, before it comes to a boil and all hell breaks loose. Decent governments, who are cognizance of the dangers of such pandora boxes ever being released, have done well to nip any potential instigators or "catalytic converters" of this continued groundsell of emotions that will exist wherever there are humans. And thankfully in Singapore we are very blessed.
But truly, the only permanent solution to such matters of the heart, has to come from within, from our hearts, and that is only possible if we believe, for in believing, the Spirit of God resides in our hearts, and we are no longer a slave to our carnal flesh. We will experience that warmth from our Lord, that our only response must be to love Him and to love whoever He places in our paths.
'For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another..'
1 John 3:11
'…whoseover doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.'
1 John 3:9-10
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(10th July 2009)
Note
------
'When I remembered Thee upon my bed,. And meditate on Thee in the night watches. Because Thou hast been my help. Therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after Thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me……'
Psalm 63:6-8
God is good. I am blessed by a dear sister in Christ, to be led to finding this "missing" verse that I shared about in the previous sharing but could not find since. God has always been very real in my life, and in this ministry especially. I often truly not just felt His hands upon my pen, but He affirms, clarifies and corrects the thoughts He placed in my heart. I often have to live what I share and just as the spirit of insecurity and fear was upon me in the previous sharing, the spirit of anger seemed to oppress me these past few days, and I tend to snap quite easily. Thankfully, while the pain on my left shoulder blade is still there, a reminder of the consequences of my anger, God is good and He brings me out of this as He has always done, faithfully.
'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.'
Revelation 3:19
'Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light..'
John 12:35-36
If you were in Urumqi - Xinjiang, darkness have indeed descended upon your life. Maybe, for the Uighurs, darkness just got worse, for life was already bleak enough, as they feel increasingly displaced by the Han Chinese. On the otherhand, if you were a recent Han Chinese immigrant into the equivalent of "California" of the old wild west days of the United States, when settlers moved from the more developed East to the greener pastures of the untapped West, Xinjiang was the promised land but as the star now dimmed, as your world around you collapsed, it can be heartrending?
As a young child then, I lived through two race riots in Singapore, one in 1964 and the other in 1969. I was too young to fully fathom the serious implications then, for maybe fear was less prevalent than curiosity for me. In 1969, I was staying in a kampung( or village) where we were quite well balanced in terms of ethnicity and friendships. With the onset of frayed relationships, I remembered being relocated to my aunt's house a couple of km away, where my ethnicity was the majority. And for my friends in Hk, some of you might recall the 1967 riots, not a race riot, but rather a politically instigated one, a direct aftermath of the Cultural revolution in China.
Can a normally convivial soul transform into a heartless butcher when circumstances dictate? Shifting alliances probably is as old as the day Adam took the apple and decided to look at things from his own understanding, rather than from God's will. Race might be one obvious headline grabber when to comes to such conflagration, but other differentiating considerations are equally potent in leading to such demarcations of "them and us" Even in a homogeneous society like Japan, class divisions do exist and they still do. And of course, in the corporate world, while many might not physically kill each other, they do literally, for the backstabbing and the tribality is no less a reality.
Will the Chinese be able to recapture the harmony in Xinjiang? Or more like, can men ever live with each other peaceably, with nay hint of any simmering tensions that will eventually lead to major blowups? One possible answer is given by a once famous dictator," might rules" and old Yugoslavia is one good recent example, when the late dictator Tito was on top, Yuglosavia was a miraculously harmonious country; strangely out of character because the Balkans has always been a firekeg of ethnic rivlaries, and World War 1 started from an assassination that occurred there. Of course, with Tito's death, rump Yugoslavia no longer exist, and a decade back, men was closest to animals there.
'And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight..'
1 John 3:19-24
God is love. And God gave us two clear commands. To seek Him always. And to love others as much as ourselves.
Education is supposed to distinguish the civilized men from the brutal barbarians. But history has shown that education need not necessary equate humanity.For if so, we should not be witnessing the continued brutality men impose upon each other. And as Robert McNamara, the late architect of the Vietnam War realized late in his life, and tried to bring about some decency and common sense in the upper echelons of the US government, in their nuclear retaliation policy. For to only have a 15 minutes leadtime before possibly unleashing 2000 nuclear bombs on humanity is not exactly the most humane operating procedure to have.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly….But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night.'
Psalm 1:1-3
Peace and joy can only come when we come with a humble and contrite heart unto the presence of our Lord God. And this is not a one off effort, but rather a continued determined process of coming unto His presence. Only in doing that, will we be able to finally surrender our right to decide and judge, and let God take away the trigger that determine our flawed emotions, for imagine, if everyone plays judge, peace is never possible. We must decrease, and let God increase.
'Be imitators of God….And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us.'
Ephesians 5:1-2
Love from God does not stop with us. We must be willing to be used by Him to be the vehicle upon which His love spreads forth. It is not easy. Conflict comes whenever we feel aggrieved. That our needs have been ignored, our rights trampled upon. For the majority of us, it does take a while for our various angst to simmer, before it comes to a boil and all hell breaks loose. Decent governments, who are cognizance of the dangers of such pandora boxes ever being released, have done well to nip any potential instigators or "catalytic converters" of this continued groundsell of emotions that will exist wherever there are humans. And thankfully in Singapore we are very blessed.
But truly, the only permanent solution to such matters of the heart, has to come from within, from our hearts, and that is only possible if we believe, for in believing, the Spirit of God resides in our hearts, and we are no longer a slave to our carnal flesh. We will experience that warmth from our Lord, that our only response must be to love Him and to love whoever He places in our paths.
'For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another..'
1 John 3:11
'…whoseover doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.'
1 John 3:9-10
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(10th July 2009)
Note
------
'When I remembered Thee upon my bed,. And meditate on Thee in the night watches. Because Thou hast been my help. Therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after Thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me……'
Psalm 63:6-8
God is good. I am blessed by a dear sister in Christ, to be led to finding this "missing" verse that I shared about in the previous sharing but could not find since. God has always been very real in my life, and in this ministry especially. I often truly not just felt His hands upon my pen, but He affirms, clarifies and corrects the thoughts He placed in my heart. I often have to live what I share and just as the spirit of insecurity and fear was upon me in the previous sharing, the spirit of anger seemed to oppress me these past few days, and I tend to snap quite easily. Thankfully, while the pain on my left shoulder blade is still there, a reminder of the consequences of my anger, God is good and He brings me out of this as He has always done, faithfully.
'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.'
Revelation 3:19
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Reflections for the moment #23 A thousand things to see before you die (8july09)
Dear…
'Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.'
Isaiah 6:8
There is a programme on television that shows in its weekly segments, all these what we call in Singlish "die, die must try" type of wonderful restaurants in Asia. The series is titled "A thousand places to dine before you die" If one starts on this quest right now, you will take about 8 years and a half to complete it, assuming one takes in each place every 3 days, and no unexpected delays arise be it health, wealth or other perfunctory factors, for life can be uncertain, even if one is certain about one's plans.
Stretching the mickey a little, it could be a thousand of other things you might aspire to do before you expire, be it places of the world for the avid traveler, a thousand or for some a million facebook friends, etc etc and yet for others, a thousand million dollars in their bank a/c notwithstanding it is in Zimbabwe dollars or just simply a chance to experience that peace and joy they never had.
'Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.'
Psalms 46:11
With 6.8 billion people and still growing in this overstretched Earth of ours, solitude or rather, a quiet place for personal reflection seems increasingly pretty hard to come by. The yaks in Tibet, the top of the world will tend to agree with you, now that the new high altitude railway is plugged into the rest of China, the most populous nation in the world. The polar bears and the penguins are not much better off, having to not just contend with those lurking nuclear powered submarines of the superpowers, but very soon, all the commercial traffic with the melting ice caps.
But reality is, time with God is less a function of our physical surrounds, and more a child of our own sense of willingness and priority. And for most of us, time with God is the 1001th thing that you might do, once you are done with the first thousand.
'Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord…'
Acts 3:19
Does following God mean the need to totally abstain from what appeals to our senses, to forgo the many panderings that the world has to offer, and worse, to put others before self?
If it is so, then many would rather not be a Christian till they have "seen" the world and "lived" life to the fullest. But can satisfaction be truly numerate and that vacume or emptiness in our hearts be ever completely filled by things of the world?
'By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not…'
Songs 3:1
Much as I have, these past few years, believed that I have grown in my relationship with our Sovereign God, my imperfections are far from diminished, and I continue to struggle in letting go and letting God. A verse I read a couple of days back talk about how one lies in bed and ponders upon the will of God. I cannot find the verse now, but this new verse I just read from Songs 3:1, does put in context, my and your struggle often, when God seems so invisible, yet the challenges of life are dauntingly real.
'Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, 'this is the work of God, that ye believe on him Whom He hath sent.'
John 6:28-29
God is good. He does not leave us drifting too long. In fact, His presence is always with us, it is us who are often blinded by our own understanding. These past couple of days, even as the spirit of insecurity tries to blanket me, by the grace of God, I willed myself to spend an even greater time with our Lord and may the following thoughts imbued in my heart speak to you as it has to me.
John 6:28-29 talks about the desire of the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ to do God's work. They were thoroughly impressed by the miracles Christ showed them. Like them, us who are blessed to know our Lord Jesus Christ, to experience His healing touch in our lives, seek to be like Him, to follow His calling. But we often struggle in doing His work, and in this context, in work separate from that of our secular jobs or even daily lives. For many, God's work is classified as in the church or church related work.
'Our sufficiency is from God.'
2 Corinthians 3:5
Within the narrow context of defining God's work as church related work, many of us often feel inadequate or even short-changed. Like the disciples, we are often caught 'doing' God's work from our own understanding and our own strength. Christ reminded his disciples then, and us today, that truly, some will plant, some water, but it is God who will bring about the increase. It is not about what we think God would want us to do, but rather, what God wants us to do.
'Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath….'
Zephaniah 1:18
But can our life truly be segmented between what is work for God, and what is other work? Many are confused thinking or more like deluding themselves that they should act like a Christian only in church, and act like a true survival of the world, using the rules of the jungle, once out of church. You are either with God or not with Him. If you are with God, you must live and be led by the Spirit in every aspect of your life, and no longer can we live in the flesh selectively.
'You stoop down to made me great..'
Psalm 18:35
What about those who are like me? Who knows that our life must be lived as our Lord leads, to be a living sacrifice to Him. Yet, are you like me, sometimes feeling inadequate, insecure, not sure if I heard God right, am I doing the right thing His way? And what about my needs in this world? Can I trust that He will provide, and this becomes particularly acute when things seem not to be going well? Silly as it might seem, I sometimes in my sinful weaknesses, asked myself, I am doing God's work, but is He doing His for me? Actually, it is not silly but stupid, but then, we are imperfect, but thankfully, God is perfect.
'Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.'
John 6:27
Breakthoughs in our faith comes from a broken or more like, humble and contrite heart. I have been broken 8 years back, and my heart was ready to be filled by the healing of the Holy Spirit in my definiing moment with our Lord that night in Bangkok. God brought me across the chasm of faithlessness to faithfulness that night, not by my will, but His. But being imperfect, my journey with our good Lord continues to be a series of a few steps up, and thankfully, fewer steps down, but no less not a straight way up. There are still many parts of me that needs to be set right.
As I close this latest chapter on my journey with our Lord. God brought me out once again into His light, as I read this verse in Psalm 18:35. Truly, our awesome God has always cared for us. He is always faithful and has come down to our level, for He knows even the finer strands of our hair. And He is our Father Who has brought us forth and will continue to, even when we resist. Why not just believe, acknowledge His Sovereignty and do what honours Him, without much thought to anything else, except to be aligned to His will. For it is not what must we do, but what God wants us to do.
But is there anything else we can do while we wait upon the Lord?
God is prescient always. Let me answer this last question with these two verses I read in an invitation card that I just received from this charity, aptly named "Breakthough Missions" that helps ex-prisoners to not just reintegrate into society, but into the Kingdom of God.
'If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'
John 8:36
Indeed, God has, through His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, already opened the gates of our spiritual prison, a life that was in bondage to the wiles of the devil.
And what should be our response. To walk out as a free man and how do you walk? You walk by always coming unto the presence of the Lord.
''We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word.'
Acts 6:4
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(8th July 2009)
'Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.'
Isaiah 6:8
There is a programme on television that shows in its weekly segments, all these what we call in Singlish "die, die must try" type of wonderful restaurants in Asia. The series is titled "A thousand places to dine before you die" If one starts on this quest right now, you will take about 8 years and a half to complete it, assuming one takes in each place every 3 days, and no unexpected delays arise be it health, wealth or other perfunctory factors, for life can be uncertain, even if one is certain about one's plans.
Stretching the mickey a little, it could be a thousand of other things you might aspire to do before you expire, be it places of the world for the avid traveler, a thousand or for some a million facebook friends, etc etc and yet for others, a thousand million dollars in their bank a/c notwithstanding it is in Zimbabwe dollars or just simply a chance to experience that peace and joy they never had.
'Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.'
Psalms 46:11
With 6.8 billion people and still growing in this overstretched Earth of ours, solitude or rather, a quiet place for personal reflection seems increasingly pretty hard to come by. The yaks in Tibet, the top of the world will tend to agree with you, now that the new high altitude railway is plugged into the rest of China, the most populous nation in the world. The polar bears and the penguins are not much better off, having to not just contend with those lurking nuclear powered submarines of the superpowers, but very soon, all the commercial traffic with the melting ice caps.
But reality is, time with God is less a function of our physical surrounds, and more a child of our own sense of willingness and priority. And for most of us, time with God is the 1001th thing that you might do, once you are done with the first thousand.
'Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord…'
Acts 3:19
Does following God mean the need to totally abstain from what appeals to our senses, to forgo the many panderings that the world has to offer, and worse, to put others before self?
If it is so, then many would rather not be a Christian till they have "seen" the world and "lived" life to the fullest. But can satisfaction be truly numerate and that vacume or emptiness in our hearts be ever completely filled by things of the world?
'By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not…'
Songs 3:1
Much as I have, these past few years, believed that I have grown in my relationship with our Sovereign God, my imperfections are far from diminished, and I continue to struggle in letting go and letting God. A verse I read a couple of days back talk about how one lies in bed and ponders upon the will of God. I cannot find the verse now, but this new verse I just read from Songs 3:1, does put in context, my and your struggle often, when God seems so invisible, yet the challenges of life are dauntingly real.
'Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, 'this is the work of God, that ye believe on him Whom He hath sent.'
John 6:28-29
God is good. He does not leave us drifting too long. In fact, His presence is always with us, it is us who are often blinded by our own understanding. These past couple of days, even as the spirit of insecurity tries to blanket me, by the grace of God, I willed myself to spend an even greater time with our Lord and may the following thoughts imbued in my heart speak to you as it has to me.
John 6:28-29 talks about the desire of the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ to do God's work. They were thoroughly impressed by the miracles Christ showed them. Like them, us who are blessed to know our Lord Jesus Christ, to experience His healing touch in our lives, seek to be like Him, to follow His calling. But we often struggle in doing His work, and in this context, in work separate from that of our secular jobs or even daily lives. For many, God's work is classified as in the church or church related work.
'Our sufficiency is from God.'
2 Corinthians 3:5
Within the narrow context of defining God's work as church related work, many of us often feel inadequate or even short-changed. Like the disciples, we are often caught 'doing' God's work from our own understanding and our own strength. Christ reminded his disciples then, and us today, that truly, some will plant, some water, but it is God who will bring about the increase. It is not about what we think God would want us to do, but rather, what God wants us to do.
'Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath….'
Zephaniah 1:18
But can our life truly be segmented between what is work for God, and what is other work? Many are confused thinking or more like deluding themselves that they should act like a Christian only in church, and act like a true survival of the world, using the rules of the jungle, once out of church. You are either with God or not with Him. If you are with God, you must live and be led by the Spirit in every aspect of your life, and no longer can we live in the flesh selectively.
'You stoop down to made me great..'
Psalm 18:35
What about those who are like me? Who knows that our life must be lived as our Lord leads, to be a living sacrifice to Him. Yet, are you like me, sometimes feeling inadequate, insecure, not sure if I heard God right, am I doing the right thing His way? And what about my needs in this world? Can I trust that He will provide, and this becomes particularly acute when things seem not to be going well? Silly as it might seem, I sometimes in my sinful weaknesses, asked myself, I am doing God's work, but is He doing His for me? Actually, it is not silly but stupid, but then, we are imperfect, but thankfully, God is perfect.
'Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.'
John 6:27
Breakthoughs in our faith comes from a broken or more like, humble and contrite heart. I have been broken 8 years back, and my heart was ready to be filled by the healing of the Holy Spirit in my definiing moment with our Lord that night in Bangkok. God brought me across the chasm of faithlessness to faithfulness that night, not by my will, but His. But being imperfect, my journey with our good Lord continues to be a series of a few steps up, and thankfully, fewer steps down, but no less not a straight way up. There are still many parts of me that needs to be set right.
As I close this latest chapter on my journey with our Lord. God brought me out once again into His light, as I read this verse in Psalm 18:35. Truly, our awesome God has always cared for us. He is always faithful and has come down to our level, for He knows even the finer strands of our hair. And He is our Father Who has brought us forth and will continue to, even when we resist. Why not just believe, acknowledge His Sovereignty and do what honours Him, without much thought to anything else, except to be aligned to His will. For it is not what must we do, but what God wants us to do.
But is there anything else we can do while we wait upon the Lord?
God is prescient always. Let me answer this last question with these two verses I read in an invitation card that I just received from this charity, aptly named "Breakthough Missions" that helps ex-prisoners to not just reintegrate into society, but into the Kingdom of God.
'If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'
John 8:36
Indeed, God has, through His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, already opened the gates of our spiritual prison, a life that was in bondage to the wiles of the devil.
And what should be our response. To walk out as a free man and how do you walk? You walk by always coming unto the presence of the Lord.
''We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word.'
Acts 6:4
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(8th July 2009)
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Reflections for the moment #22 Sponge Bob, Square Pants(1july09)
Dear…
'…and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath…..and men blasphemed God because of the plague…'
Revelation 16:18-21
Sponge Bob, Square Pants is this silly but lovable cartoon character that my son, Andre enjoys watching. It is about a yellow square shaped sponge liked character on two spindly legs with not much of a brain, but a determined and kind heart.
In my ministry of sharing the thoughts that I truly believe our Lord placed in my heart, I sometimes wonder if I am like Sponge Bob, always with good intent, and just maybe a good bard I might seem to be, but have I often reflected my own understanding rather than the true will of our Sovereign God?
Just this morning, as I read the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, a book that I seldom had the privilege of being led to, I was brought to Revelation 16 and two common themes stood out in this chapter, which is,
- About God's wrath towards sinful men
'And I heard a great voice out fo the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.'
Revelations 16:1
- and the continued unrepentance of men
'And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory..'
Revelations 16:9
To add on or to take away the Word of God, prayerfully I have not, much as an imperfect human I am. But I have learned to speak as I feel led, and may what I am about to reflect upon be used by Him to speak to you, even if the messenger is imperfect.
This morning, right after I completed my quiet time with Lord on Revelation 16, He brought me to an article in the newspaper which came up with an interesting postulation as to the root cause of today's economic woes.
Out of good, came the bad, and the writer believed that the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, and with it, the final loosening of the stifling Bear hug of the Russians over a large part of Europe and implicitly its satellite nations in the rest of the world, led to an open field for capitalism to rein free, and unfortunately run wild. As aspirations of the population of long suppressed ex-communist regimes rose to match the present standards of their capitalist brethrens, and as countries and private enterprises across the world flood their economic system with easy credit in their desire to seek supernormal profits, an utopic world where infinite wants are matched by seemingly infinite resources came to the forth, or more like rose to the froth with the inevitable consequences that the world is now suffering from, when beneath the now soured cream, is a cake that has lost its self rising capabilities.
Unfortunately, the world today is still trying to extend its utopic dreams, and we will bear the consequences of unfettered Sovereign fiscal ill-discipline and its resultant beggar thy neighbour policy as reflected in deceit(questionable accounting standards), selfishness(protectionism is no longer a spectre,but quite real) and willingness to compromise(where monies will take precedent over morality).
As I reflected upon this article and Revelation 16, a thought struck my diminishing brain, but thankfully enlarging heart, for God speaks to our hearts, and we use less our understanding.
More specifically, if you read the line in Revelations 16:18 as above "And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell…'
It struck me that the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism or its chief protagonist, the old USSR could symbolise the 2nd part of this great city, the world we lived in. That collapse led to a lost opportunity where instead of sharing the past good moral values of the Western world, which has its foundations in Christianity, the Western world took the opportunity to belittle and encourage unfettered greed and shared its immorality with its Eastern European counterparts, many of whom, in the face of previous deprivation, were closer to God than their free but worldly brethren from the West. How ironic indeed. The free Christian world, was closer to mammon while the anti-Christ communist world was in reality closer to the Lord.
The economic problems we are witnessing today in Eastern Europe is largely funded by Western European funds.
What about the 1st part of this great city?. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but another wall did not fall but was partially dismantled a few years earlier. The Great Wall of China is still around but just like a breach in its defense from the treacherous action of a disgruntled general allowed the Manchus to overrun the insipid Ming Dynasty. The present newly minted economic superpower China, owe its rise in a large extent to the vision and boldness of one man, Deng Xiao Ping. Small in posture he might be, but boldness in heart he was and his bold declaration for Chinese to go forth and flower has enabled China and Chinese to take its position as a rising superpower in our present world.
To release a billion plus repressed people with a very low per capita income into a world, with the objective to move up if not eventually match or even surpass present developed world living standards is no less earth shaking than the demise of the USSR.
And what is the third part? Without the relentless desire of China to export its way up the economic curve, the insatiable consumerism of the Americans and to some extent, the developed world would never have been fully satisfied. And just like the British Imperialists were getting fat feeding the opium addiction of the corrupt Qing Dynasty, the rising Chinese Dragon has willingly fed the consumer addicted Americans.
The subprime markets grew into humongous proportions from the potent combination of greed, fear of all involved, but without the circuituous rechannelling of monies earned by the Chinese primarily, as well as others who lubricated the great American debt binge, the sorry stage that we are in today might have come earlier and the shaking maybe less!!
The earthquake that rocked the global economic system is truly such as men have never seen before. Would there be even greater earthquakes? I am not sure but for men to choose to believe that the worst is over and that they can continue to engage in their sinful pursuits, is to assume that either God is but a figment of imagination, or that God is not serious about saving our souls?
'Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool.'
Proverbs 19:1
Much as my brain might be a little pea, and my imaginations larger than a hot air balloon, I know God is ever present, and I know Christ will return. I know I have better be ready when Christ does return, but I know that I must be watchful too, for as we live through the rise of the New Babylon, not just a new financial system rising from the ashes of the 3 parts as described above, but a new political and social order, in an increasingly abused physical world. The commonality is that many men would be united by their increased depravity and sinfulness and continued desire to be like their father on earth, the devil.
'Be sober, be watchful, your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom withstand stedfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in yoru brethren wo are in the world. And the God of grace, Who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall Himself perfect, establish, strengthen you. To Him the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.'
1 Peter 5:6-10
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(27th June 2009)
'…and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath…..and men blasphemed God because of the plague…'
Revelation 16:18-21
Sponge Bob, Square Pants is this silly but lovable cartoon character that my son, Andre enjoys watching. It is about a yellow square shaped sponge liked character on two spindly legs with not much of a brain, but a determined and kind heart.
In my ministry of sharing the thoughts that I truly believe our Lord placed in my heart, I sometimes wonder if I am like Sponge Bob, always with good intent, and just maybe a good bard I might seem to be, but have I often reflected my own understanding rather than the true will of our Sovereign God?
Just this morning, as I read the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, a book that I seldom had the privilege of being led to, I was brought to Revelation 16 and two common themes stood out in this chapter, which is,
- About God's wrath towards sinful men
'And I heard a great voice out fo the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.'
Revelations 16:1
- and the continued unrepentance of men
'And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory..'
Revelations 16:9
To add on or to take away the Word of God, prayerfully I have not, much as an imperfect human I am. But I have learned to speak as I feel led, and may what I am about to reflect upon be used by Him to speak to you, even if the messenger is imperfect.
This morning, right after I completed my quiet time with Lord on Revelation 16, He brought me to an article in the newspaper which came up with an interesting postulation as to the root cause of today's economic woes.
Out of good, came the bad, and the writer believed that the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, and with it, the final loosening of the stifling Bear hug of the Russians over a large part of Europe and implicitly its satellite nations in the rest of the world, led to an open field for capitalism to rein free, and unfortunately run wild. As aspirations of the population of long suppressed ex-communist regimes rose to match the present standards of their capitalist brethrens, and as countries and private enterprises across the world flood their economic system with easy credit in their desire to seek supernormal profits, an utopic world where infinite wants are matched by seemingly infinite resources came to the forth, or more like rose to the froth with the inevitable consequences that the world is now suffering from, when beneath the now soured cream, is a cake that has lost its self rising capabilities.
Unfortunately, the world today is still trying to extend its utopic dreams, and we will bear the consequences of unfettered Sovereign fiscal ill-discipline and its resultant beggar thy neighbour policy as reflected in deceit(questionable accounting standards), selfishness(protectionism is no longer a spectre,but quite real) and willingness to compromise(where monies will take precedent over morality).
As I reflected upon this article and Revelation 16, a thought struck my diminishing brain, but thankfully enlarging heart, for God speaks to our hearts, and we use less our understanding.
More specifically, if you read the line in Revelations 16:18 as above "And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell…'
It struck me that the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism or its chief protagonist, the old USSR could symbolise the 2nd part of this great city, the world we lived in. That collapse led to a lost opportunity where instead of sharing the past good moral values of the Western world, which has its foundations in Christianity, the Western world took the opportunity to belittle and encourage unfettered greed and shared its immorality with its Eastern European counterparts, many of whom, in the face of previous deprivation, were closer to God than their free but worldly brethren from the West. How ironic indeed. The free Christian world, was closer to mammon while the anti-Christ communist world was in reality closer to the Lord.
The economic problems we are witnessing today in Eastern Europe is largely funded by Western European funds.
What about the 1st part of this great city?. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but another wall did not fall but was partially dismantled a few years earlier. The Great Wall of China is still around but just like a breach in its defense from the treacherous action of a disgruntled general allowed the Manchus to overrun the insipid Ming Dynasty. The present newly minted economic superpower China, owe its rise in a large extent to the vision and boldness of one man, Deng Xiao Ping. Small in posture he might be, but boldness in heart he was and his bold declaration for Chinese to go forth and flower has enabled China and Chinese to take its position as a rising superpower in our present world.
To release a billion plus repressed people with a very low per capita income into a world, with the objective to move up if not eventually match or even surpass present developed world living standards is no less earth shaking than the demise of the USSR.
And what is the third part? Without the relentless desire of China to export its way up the economic curve, the insatiable consumerism of the Americans and to some extent, the developed world would never have been fully satisfied. And just like the British Imperialists were getting fat feeding the opium addiction of the corrupt Qing Dynasty, the rising Chinese Dragon has willingly fed the consumer addicted Americans.
The subprime markets grew into humongous proportions from the potent combination of greed, fear of all involved, but without the circuituous rechannelling of monies earned by the Chinese primarily, as well as others who lubricated the great American debt binge, the sorry stage that we are in today might have come earlier and the shaking maybe less!!
The earthquake that rocked the global economic system is truly such as men have never seen before. Would there be even greater earthquakes? I am not sure but for men to choose to believe that the worst is over and that they can continue to engage in their sinful pursuits, is to assume that either God is but a figment of imagination, or that God is not serious about saving our souls?
'Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool.'
Proverbs 19:1
Much as my brain might be a little pea, and my imaginations larger than a hot air balloon, I know God is ever present, and I know Christ will return. I know I have better be ready when Christ does return, but I know that I must be watchful too, for as we live through the rise of the New Babylon, not just a new financial system rising from the ashes of the 3 parts as described above, but a new political and social order, in an increasingly abused physical world. The commonality is that many men would be united by their increased depravity and sinfulness and continued desire to be like their father on earth, the devil.
'Be sober, be watchful, your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom withstand stedfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in yoru brethren wo are in the world. And the God of grace, Who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall Himself perfect, establish, strengthen you. To Him the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.'
1 Peter 5:6-10
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(27th June 2009)
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