Do not be meer hearers... be doers of the word

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does." {James 1:22-25]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You know as I was reading Charles' blog (tanewo.blogspot.com), the Holy Spirit spoke to me. Many a time, during G12 conferences and all, we go into a spiritual 'high'. But why is it that we cannot sustain that 'high'? That's because we're not good soil... we listen to His word and don't apply it in our daily lives. Because we do not apply His word, it shows we havn't truly understood it.

My cry to The Lord is that I will hunger for His word daily... that the hunger will be so great that I cannot go on with my day without first meditating on His word. Indeed, it is His word that has power, it is The Word of God that sustains me, it is The Word of God that transforms and renews our lives. I pray for the one reading this now, that you too might receive that same hunger that The Holy Spirit has put within me for the Word of God... i bless you that as you read God's word, your life will be transformed. =)

YIPPEE! I failed my driving!

Haha... yesyes... i failed my 2nd driving test. But why do i cheer? Honestly, i really really thought i would pass and that God would allow me to pass. But since I didn't, God must be trying to teach me something.

Ok, i admit i was disappointed at the moment when the guy told me that I failed. But i thank God for the difference in me compared to the first time i failed my driving. Firstly, I didn't feel lousy despite my failure... cos I know that my true significance is not placed in worldly measures but in God above. Also, I thank God for the nice tester and the joy in me throughout the whole test. There was a divine peace despite all the weird mistakes that i have never made in my whole driving experience. And i thank God too for all my brothers and sisters who helped to make the day much more cheery. =)

Thank you Yoke Yeong for talking to me on the phone when I was in tears, and for all ur prayers.
Thank you my cousin Eric for your encouragements and asking whether i passed.
Thank you Young Man for praying for me and all the messages of encouragement before the test.
Thank you Korean Bro for giving me a new perspective of looking at driving - that it's the heart behind it that is more important than merely passing or failing. Indeed I've been wanting to pass just so that i can save my parent's money. haha. but I guess God's teaching me to work harder... to drive properly so that I won't hurt anyone on the road in the future! =)
Thank you Rachel for your pretty pretty card and starbursts and the time you spent walking around vivO with me!
Thank you Rachel's cousin for giving me a lift back to hall.
Thank you Sharon & my G12 sisters for your prayers.
Thank you mom and dad for all your understanding and for giving me the 3rd chance to try again.

Yay! Look at that whole lot of names. haha. Thank God that through this experience of testing my heart, you have shown me that my dear brothers and sisters and my family love me very much. =) Indeed, God is great! And that is why I thank God that I failed my driving. Cos through this failure, He has taught me and shown me many many things. =)

There's always 2 sides to a coin. We can choose to be pessimistic and look at it from our human perspective or we can look at it from the Godly perspective!

Underground Church

Yay! We just finished our Barnabas Sanctification Camp. Haha. During the camp, the kids were playing a game called underground church. For those who don’t know what the game is like, well, it’s like everyone is in this ‘land’ where we’re all farmers and our task is to collect beans, which can be exchanged for money to buy REAL stuff. So most of the children were really excited to collect beans to buy stuff. But at the same time, there will be some chosen to be Christians (with a sticker on shirt)… who can choose to go around sharing the gospel with their friends. One can choose to be an open Christian (sticker on front of shirt) or a hidden Christian (hide sticker). The game has 8 shifts. And as each shift progresses, Christians face many more oppositions.

Shift 1: Christians are free to share Christ.
Shift 2: Christians are not allowed to share Christ openly
Shift 3: Christians are not allowed to congregate.
Shift 4: Christians are not allowed to buy stuff in the market
Shift 5: Those who turn in their sticker will be given 50 dollars and will not be caught.
Shift 6: Those who are open Christians will be caught
Shift 7: Those who turn in friends who are Christians will be given 200 dollars.
Shift 8: Public trial where those who are Christians are paraded and publicly accused.

Those who are caught by the secret police will be tortured in the dungeon.

So well, many Children began the game wanting to be Christians. However, as the game progressed, many gave up their stickers. The way they gave up their stickers was really scary. It just made my hair stand when they said, “ok, I give up my sticker.” Especially during shift 6, many couldn’t wait to give up their stickers just to get the 50 dollars.

Actually, the game is an analogy of what really happens in real life! During Ps Linda’s preaching, she shared that many a time, we all look down on Judas, because he betrayed Jesus for 30 shekels of silver. But are we really any different from Judas? The truth is we are not very different from him. Many of us choose to make Christianity part of our lives but not the centre of our lives. Ask ourselves, what is our motivation for being a Christian? Will we give up our faith easily when persecution comes? If your answer is ‘yes’ or ‘dunno’… I pray that today, you will encounter the love of God in a mightily special way. Don’t let this life pass by without knowing the perfect love of God.
Also, many of us are just like the children playing the game. We are distracted by the “beans”, the things of this world that attract us and distract us from following God. Will we continue to be preoccupied with advancing our career, pursuing our dream to be the top student or the prime minister or make lots of money etc… and leave God aside? What if today is the last day I have on earth? Will I be able to say that I have lived my life purposefully and intentionally and not wasted it away?

[Matthew 24:42-51] “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come… So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him… Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the master has put in charge”

You know, the game underground church really gave me a glimpse of how it will be in the end times. Many will give up their faith so so easily, because of distractions or persecution. But are we of those that will lose heart and are destroyed? Or will we endure to the end and run the race for God? I want to be like Paul in 2 Tim 4:7-8. At the end of my life, I want to be able to say “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

My friends, are we really fighting the good fight? Or have we totally given up fighting and have just given in. In this season when most of us are facing many many challenges, choose to fight the good fight! But before we start fighting, we must first sit tight (Our POSITION in Christ), walk right (Our POSTURE in Christ)… then only can we stand and fight! =)

It’s not about being a good Christian

I realise I havn't blogged for a long long time. Haha. Have been busy with trainings, school work and now comes the season of camps and competition amidst my mid-term tests and my competition season. wow. it's amazing that I choose to post at this very moment. But I wanna share this devotion with all of you! =) hees. I have started reading the book "Search for Significance" recently and it has spoke to me loads. You know, many a time, we're not confident of who we are... and we try to do many many things to be accepted and loved. But ultimately, it's not about what we do, but it's about Jesus Christ who died for us so that we may have eternal life. And my friends, we are formed in the IMAGE of God. So since we are formed in His image, we are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. [Psalm 139]

Looking forward to share more of my reflections as I read the book! =) Now, sit back and enjoy John Fischer's article... =) May it speak to you as you read it.
___________________________________________________

Here’s one of the greatest things about being a Christian: You can accept yourself for who you are.

Here’s one of the most tragic things about being a Christian: You can be one for a long time without knowing this.

I was. I was what you might call a model Christian. I filled the bill. Any church or Christian school would have seen me as a poster child Christian. There was only one problem: I thought I was, too – when all the while I knew I wasn’t. I knew it was all pretty much a game.

All this was back when I thought a Christian was all about being a good person – someone who would rank high in relative goodness when compared to others more spiritually challenged.

This was before I realized that Christ died to save sinners, and to qualify for the free gift of salvation you have to realize you are desperately in need of being saved. You are drowning. You are dying. As a sinner, you are among the worst.

Once you make “being good” the criteria for being a Christian, out of necessity you become the judge of others because you have to judge others in order to remain good in your own eyes. So if you have not come to this, (i.e. you are still pretty good in your own eyes), and you preach the Gospel (many do, from this perspective), it becomes a Gospel for other people – not for you. And something doesn’t ring true.

You also remain aloof to just about everybody because you can’t really know anyone for fear they might come to know you and find out your secret, that you really are a scoundrel like everybody else. It’s a lonely life. Believe me. It’s much better to be a sinner whom Jesus Christ loves and for whom he died so you can spread the Good News about him to other sinners like you. Then you have nothing to hide, and only Christ – and a lot of friends – to gain by telling the truth.

I think this is one of the things that made Billy Graham such a good evangelist. When he preached about the Gospel, he never excluded himself from needing it. He knew the Gospel wouldn’t preach if it were not, first and foremost, for him.

Which brings us back to being a Christian and accepting yourself as who you are. That’s why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that we all have unveiled faces. We have nothing to hide because we are reflecting the face of Christ whom we worship in continual gratitude for our salvation.

Thank goodness. I never liked being a good Christian anyway.

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)