Secured in Christ, Sealed by His Love

2007-01-12T01:54:00.000+08:00

i realise i didnt put my new blog add.
actually its not new.
but its revived!
hallelujah...
haha.... yeah im back with the old blog.

[reverie] I'm an F#m --++ Listen to Me

funny i thought i did.
ah well...

2006-11-19T01:40:00.000+08:00

well being 'away' for so long.
actually i'm not 'away'
woo! i'm at the other blog.

no im kidding.
seriously....
the more i gaze upon the finished work,
the beauty and perfection of Jesus, i can't help but fall more and more in love.
and ever since i've had deep revelations of His love for me.... wow.... I just like, super-accelerated in knowledge of Him.

well... recently, been really learning the guitar earnestly.
thats why i'm "on hiatus".
not that I don't care about God anymore... but that He moves me to pick up learning the guitar earnestly.

but... I think I shall continue to blog revelations here. even personal ones.
Only prolly at a 'reduced' pace?
haha, no rush is there?
I want to labour more abundantly, the grace and love that Jesus has given me, to take what He died to give me.

as long as its about Jesus's love, hey!
I'm gonna tell the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Psalm 51:16-17 (New King James Version)

16~ For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.

17~ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.

God does not desire sacrifice, He doesn't even like the burnt offerings the Jews give. DAVID himself said so. and don't the Jews look up to David?

God only asked for it, because blood MUST be shed for the forgiveness of sins.
thus there is sacrifice.
but does He like it?

look at what generations of sacrifices have done for Israel.
nothing at all.

the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away your sins.
neither can your actions, your 'good' deeds, your 'charity' take away sins.

but one sacrifice is enough.
that ONE sacrifice, Jesus.

Jesus was sacrificed do us.
His Spirit was broken,
His heart was broken.

When the roman soldier pierced his side, water flowed out, which is an indication Jesus's heart broke.
its amazing really... the first time i heard it, i was so touched.

Jesus's heart is set on you.
His heart is all for you.
He gave His heart to love you.

that on the cross,
His heart was broken and was contrite,
making intercessions and praying for us,
on that cross.

Repentance is not our actions.

Job 42:5-6 (New American Standard Bible)

5~ "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;

6~ Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes."

let me go backwards.

Job said He repented in dust and ashes.

in the hebrew culture,
when one mourns, one throws dust on themselves.

Joshua 7:6 (New American Standard Bible)

6~ Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.

Revelation 18:19 (NASB)

19~ "And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying,

Dust represents mourning, or grief.

and ashes?

Ashes are actually used to purify sin.

Numbers 19:9 (NASB)

9~ 'Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it as water to remove impurity; it is purification from sin.

what happens is this:
a heifer, a young cow that has not produced a calf is burnt on the altar.
innocent blood is spilt, a sacrifice is made to atone for our sins.
the ashes of the burnt heifer are collected and kept.

later on in Numbers 19,
the ashes are taken and flowing water is added,
and the water is sprinkled unto unclean things, even people to purify their sins.

so Job repented: in MOURNING/GRIEF and in PURIFICATION OF SINS, amen?

how did Job come to repent?

Job 42:5-6 (New American Standard Bible)

5~ "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;

6~ Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes."

He heard, and He saw.

in Galatians 3:

2~ This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Did righteousness come by works?
or by hearing with faith the Word of God?

Galatians 3:6

6~ Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Now i ask you, was Abraham righteous?
He lived in an era, where there was no Law of Burnt offerings: no ashes.
He lived in an era, obviously before Christ came, so Jesus has not died yet,

but Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
He heard the gospel, as preached by God.

8~ The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU."

How could Abraham have known about Jesus, or the GOSPEL???
if not that God preached to him?
and all Abraham did was hear with faith, and he agreed with God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

hearing with faith.

this faith will make us righteous, for the bible says:

Galatians 3

9~ So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

10~ For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM."

11~Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

The righteous live by faith,
and faith comes by hearing the Word.
our faith is IN the WORD.

Ephesians 1:17-18 (New American Standard Bible)

17~ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

18~ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

our faith is in Jesus, it is in Him.

not that we are not faithful, but our faith is so small. so weak. and capricious amen?
but thanks be to God, that His faith is everlasting, and it will never change. our faith is in Him.
would you be a fool and cast your own hopes on your own strength? or would you be wise and look to and for someone that never changes, yesterday, today and forever, He is the same.

Job heard the Lord, and his eyes has behold the glory of God.

No one has seen God, but our spiritual eyes can be opened to Him.
To see the grace given to us, daily, renewed daily, ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES.

That will cause us to repent.

To hear with faith,
and to behold with faith,
our grace given to us according to the riches of God. (Eph 1:7)

let me close with this:

if repentance is by action, and by works,
then how shallow is that?

to repent by action is to do it by works, not grace!

well then you would say, "so we don't have to atone for our mistakes? so we don't have to punished anymore? wouldn't that cause licentious living?"

let me tell you:

1. Right believing leads to right living.

2. How small, how shallow are you hypocrites who go about 'repenting' by your actions. God justifies who? the UNGODLY! Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone! What repentance can you have, without revelation?

3. Without revelation, without your mind and heart repenting, what action can there be? For surely, Man thinks before he acts. Repentance is of the mind, not by our actions. Our actions will follow our thoughts, unless you act before you think... then God bless you.

4. Our actions are NEVER enough to repent for our sins. What self-effort can save you, i ask? What can you possibly offer back to Almighty God? What can your efforts do? If you say you could, then you have fallen from grace, and Christ has died in vain for you. for He has set you free, and that is Truth, but you have not known the truth, and the truth has thus not set you free.

5. Lastly, God searches the heart. He does not search our actions. Let me tell you this: If my actions speak for myself, then i'm a fool and a liar. For I can perform repenting acts, but have no repentance in my heart towards God. But praise be to God, that He searches our hearts.

Remember... there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Do not despair, but ask the Lord to teach you.

Jesus is love~~~~
ciaoz~~~

2006-11-08T23:10:00.000+08:00

-on hiatus-

Adam to Noah

2006-10-30T00:00:00.000+08:00

The bloodline of Adam to Noah

God is awesome amen?
His manifested glory and grace is found EVERYWHERE in the bible. For His eyes are on Jesus, and we praise Him. For as Jesus is, so are we in this world.

Jesus... so full of grace and mercy.

want to learn more of His grace?

in the first book of the bible, Genesis chapter 5.
what a lot of words amen?

but in the chapter of grace, in Genesis 5, God used one whole chapter to speak of, to prophesies His coming Son. and in the last book of Revelations chapter 5 again, one whole chapter of how Jesus fulfilled what Genesis prophesised. What began as a prophesy in Genesis 5 is fulfilled in Revelations 5.

now look here:

Genesis 5:3-31 (New King James Version)
3~ And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
4~ After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters.
5~ So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
6~ Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh.
7~ After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters.
8~ So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.
9~ Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan.
10~ After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters.
11~ So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.
12~ Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel.
13~ After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters.
14~ So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
15~ Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared.
16~ After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters.
17~ So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.
18~ Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch.
19~ After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
20~ So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.
21~ Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah.
22~ After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
23~ So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24~ And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
25~ Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech.
26~ After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters.
27~ So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
28~ Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son.
29~ And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed."
30~ After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters.
31~ So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.
32~ And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

very long huh. lets go through it slowly.

in hebrew:

1. Adam from "'adam" which means "Man"

2. Seth from "shiyth" which means "Appointed"

3. Enosh from "'anash" which means "desperate(-ly wicked), incurable, sick, woeful"

4. Cainan from "qen" which means "nest" or "chamber of dwelling"

5. Mahalaleh from the words "mahalal" and "el" which means "Praise of God"

6. Jared from "yarad" which means "to descend" or "to fall"

7. Enoch from "'chanak'" which means "dedicate" or "discipline"

8. Methuselah from the words "muth" and "shalach" which means "His death shall bring" or "bring forth"

9. Lamech from "Lemek" which likely means "laid low" or "lowly" or "depressed" or "despairing"

10. Noah from "nuwach" which means "rest"

when you put them all together you get:
Man is Appointed Incurable Woe and Sickness, in his Chamber of Dwelling: that is, his Body in where his Soul dwells. But Praise be to God, for God will Descend to earth to Dedicate His Death to bring those who have been Laid Low in Despair to Rest.

HALLEJUAH! as early as Genesis 5, God said He will come for us! He will come! Jesus came, not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it for us! Jesus came to give not only life, but life MORE ABUNDANTLY.

God is good, and awesome in this place. Awesome and worthy of all praise and glory, amen? Mighty is He to save, blessed are the children of God who trust in Him.

haha... let's take a closer look at the fall of Man.

Man became increasingly wicked from Enosh onwards. from Enosh's time, Man fell even depravity and all wicked things. as was described later in Genesis 6.

Look here:

in Genesis 4:26 (NKJV)
26~ And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.

this is not likely at all! for in the first verse, Eve did call upon the name of the Lord. Adam and Eve were already calling upon the name of the Lord. very likely this was something else.

in hebrew the words 'men began' which carries meanings of 'begin' or 'defiling/profaning'.

later on i'll show what this people were doing.

but see here:
in the SEVENTH generation, in the perfected generation, Enoch was taken by God. He raptured! haha the first person to rapture in the bible. why?

Hebrews 11 (NKJV)
5~ By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6~ But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Enoch PLEASED God. how did he please God? because he had faith, as verse 6 says. how did he have faith? because he dilligently sought the Lord. His name was "discipline/dedicate" mah!

haha but before that, it says "he who comes to God must believe that He is"

He is what?
simply He is. He is the Lord God Almighty. He is. He exists, and He is the alpha and the omega. He is 'Aleph (aw'-lef), He is Thav (thawv).

at this point remember Man had fallen to wickedness. this wickedness is written in Jude.

Jude 1:11-15 (Amplified Bible)
11~ Woe to them! For they have run riotously in the way of Cain, and have abandoned themselves for the sake of gain it offers them, following the error of Balaam, and have perished in rebellion like that of Korah!
12~ These are hidden reefs (elements of danger) in your love feasts, where they boldly feast sumptuously carousing together in your midst, without scruples providing for themselves alone. They are clouds without water, swept along by the winds; trees, without fruit at the late autumn gathering time--(doubly) dead, lifeless and plucked up by the roots;
13~ Wild waves of the sea, flinging up the foam of their own shame and disgrace; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of eternal darkness has been reserved forever.
14~ It was of these people, moreover, that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied when he said, Behold, the Lord comes with His myriads of holy ones (ten thousands of His saints)
15~ To execute judgment upon all and to convict all the impious unholy ones of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the severe abusive, jarring things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

This is what Man who fell from the time of Enosh did!
That the unholy ones were sinning in ungodly deeds, in ungodly ways, and ABUSE of the Lord. probably idolatry and many many more.

they didn't believe that God is.

Enoch was the first prophet too! He was someone who walks with God.
in fact, the bible says He walked with God AFTER He begat Methuselah. somehow He had visions of the Great Flood to come.

after all Methuselah means "His death shall bring forth".
in the old testament, children seemed to be named after events or something.

Eve called Seth, Seth because she said the Lord appointed her another son.
and read Leah and Rachel and you'll see they keep naming their kids after something this way.

that's why names have meanings in the bible. they mean something. they aren't there for show.

--

ok so where's the grace you ask?

Noah.

Why was Noah saved?
what was so special about Noah?

Genesis 6:8 (NKJV)
8~ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Noah found grace!
why?

2 Peter 2:5 (Amplified bible)
5~ And He spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world of ungodly people

Noah preached RIGHTEOUSNESS!
therefore,
Righteousness is ONLY through grace then, for if Noah had did not know righteousness, He would not have found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Years before Christ even came to this earth, before Moses even obtained the stone tablets, Noah preached righteousness!

hallejuah!

ok im going to close with this:

if anyone says that there is no grace in the Great Flood, tell them this:

(go ahead and calculate if you dont believe me)

1. it is by God's grace that He withheld the flood till Noah was 600 years old. No one descended direct from Adam died by the Great Flood. all those names here in this chapter: they all died before the Flood even came. God was so gracious to the Sons of Adam that He did not smite them straight away.

2. that Methuselah's death would signal the Great Flood, but God's grace withheld Methuselah from dying. Methuselah lived 969 years old, He is the longest living man in the bible! (Methuselah died on the same year as the flood).

3. that Enoch, SEVENTH generation, 7 being the number of Godly perfection, pleased God for he preached judgement. But Noah, being a preacher of righteousness found grace in the eyes of the Lord!

4. that Lamech prophesised of Noah, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed." (Genesis 3:29) that Lamech would live to 777 for if Enoch was 7 in Godly perfection, then Noah was 3 TIMES THE PERFECTION - it being that Noah is the third generation from Enoch, and thus 777!

5. and finally, Lamech was 182 when He gave birth to Noah, and He lived 595 years more to 777. Noah was 600 when the Flood came. 600-595=5. 5 YEARS AFTER LAMECH DIED AT 777, THE GREAT FLOOD CAME!

now tell me that the Great Flood didn't come by grace!
oh HALLEJUAH!

that even the judgement upon the world, came by grace!

my God my God, You're so gracious to us all. so... so... so gracious. hallejuah!

and finally in Revelations 5, the whole chapter was about how Jesus came to fulfill what was prophesied, that the Lamb of God was slain.

Revelations 5:9 (NKJV)
9~ And they sang a new song, saying:
"You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10~ And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.

Jesus came to earth to fulfill the prophesy in Genesis 5.
and we are all at REST in Him.

amen!

ok one very very last thing:

the last verses in the chapter are these:

Genesis 5: 31-32(New King James Version)
31~ So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.
32~ And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

all of them died. but Noah begat Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Shem in hebrew means "honour/authority"
Ham means "a multitude"
Japheth means "expand"

when God took away our reproach, and we Rest in Jesus Christ, in Grace, we are blessed with:

All those who Rest in God's Grace will have his smallest possesions Expanded, and receive 1st Honour and Authority in the midst of the Multitudes of this world.

hallejuah, blessed night all~

(note: the meaning of Lamech is unknown. it comes from an unused Hebrew root word. it likely means this though:

~Lamech (Gen 4:18)
Lamech the First is the last mentioned father in the line of Cain. Lamech the Second is the father of Noah.
The word lmk does not occur in Hebrew. Jones reads Powerful, from an untreated root meaning strong and robust young man. NOBSE reads Wild Man. But perhaps the name stemmed from the construction of the particle le (1063), meaning to or towards; and the verb muk (1159), be low, depressed, or even the adjacent verb makak (1193), be low, humiliated. The whole name would thus mean For Lowering; For Humiliation. )

Grace walks with you, Law takes from you.

2006-10-28T00:05:00.000+08:00

Grace walks with you, Law takes from you.

as Leah used first, self-effort to produce her sons, and later on mandrakes, which was a picture of negativity or reproach, for mandrake roots are poisonous.

and yet the moment Leah stopped using self-effort, the moment she let go of her bitterness, God listened to her, and she gave birth to the 5th child Issachar.

similarly, why did God use a stone to slay Goliath?
Moses used a staff, Samson used the jawbone of a donkey, but David used a stone?

because grace slew that giant.
when that stone was thrown, it was out of David's hands, and in God's mighty hands amen?

when you let go, when you learn to let go, of every pain, bitterness, every shame or condemnation in your heart, you free yourself.

not saying that those who are in Christ are not free. for Christ had to die but once to save us all. but sometimes we forget... we forget to let go.

to receive that grace, to understand letting go, catch a revelation of this:

Matthew 16:24-25 (NKJV)
24~ Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25~ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

what does this mean?
how can losing our life for Jesus save our own life? we would be dead!

but this is what Jesus meant: that whoever desires Grace, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me (Jesus). Whoever desires to save his life will die, but whoever dies for Me will live.

do you desire to save your own life? do you save your own life? you'll surely die.

but if you die for Jesus, you'll surely live. i'm NOT talking about matyrdom. im NOT talking about physical death.

what Jesus meant was this! the only way we can save ourself was to die on the cross. but if we did that, it saves nobody. we just die. nothing WE DO will be enough to save ourselves. theres no point trying to save our own life, the only way, the One Way is Jesus, for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Through Him and only Him can we be saved.

but Jesus said we must die!

Yes we must die, but we must die to our old self.

Romans 6 (New King James Version)
6~ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

and it can happen because:

Romans 3-5 (NKJV)
3~ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4~ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5~ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

when we receive Christ, we died with Him on the cross. we shared His death. when Christ was resurrected, we shared His resurrection.

this is why we are righteous. never forget you're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!

its all about choice. one of the biggest things God gave mankind was free will. God will always have a choice. NEVER will you have NO choice.

do you choose to die to your old self?
yes you had to die but once, but we forget. God never forgets, but we do.

Jesus said whoever wants GRACE, choose to deny yourself, and choose to take up your cross.

whenever you sin, yes grace grace covers it. but how? but why?
to get a deeper sense of how blessed you are, know this:

say in our lives we sin 100 times.
God exists outside the time-stream, so at one glance, the moment we receive Christ and is considered crucified and risen again, the 100 times of sin are completely forgotten.

BUT because WE exist INSIDE time, so we do not see the 100 times.
say we are at the point of the 34th sin, and we sin the 35th time, Christ has paid for it. it is all paid for on the cross.

do we see this as the 35th? do we know there will be a 36th? we don't know.
what we do know is that we feel terrible for sinning.

condemnation can set in, guilt can set in.
i mean they're people who don't go church because they aren't ready yet. or they are hiding from God.

What are you hiding from? God sees all the 100 sins. you go to church not because you're ready, but because God is ever-ready to receive you. God wants to receive you too, He would RUN to you just to hug you and welcome you home.

does this mean we never sin?

Romans 6:12 (NKJV)
12~ Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

our flesh is lusting to sin.
but guess what Jesus said?

Deny yourself and take up your cross.

Choose to die to your old self, choose to confess your righteousness because you are already crucified. if you realise that all your old self is dead and gone, you are a new person, you are a new creation and all your old self, the disgusting bits of you are gone. you're a child of the Most High God, and He has give you the Holy Spirit.

the Holy Spirit will never come into anyone who is not pure or holy.
in the past, the Spirit came to rest ON people, but today, the Spirit comes INTO us, and dwells in us. How can anyone not declare they are holy? can the Holy Spirit enter anyone not holy? of course not.

and its not only about sinning. its everything. Christ has surely paid for it.

are you bitter in heart?
are you angry?
guilty?

every single negativity, every single thing, all dead, all gone, all crucified.
you're dead!

Jesus said who ever dies for His sake shall live.
you died. you're dead. and a new creation now. amen and hallejuah!

so make your choice. in everything, make a choice to die to your old self. make a choice to be crucified with Christ. when you confess, you just feel the old self melting away. you just feel a strength confirming that yes, you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. that yes, you are His beloved child. yes there is no sin, and no lust of the flesh you have to fulfill. you dont have to listen to sin, you died to that. you're alive unto God.

let it go.... let your past go away. let it all go away because its dead now. dead and crucified with Christ. the life you live now is alive unto God. its all about Jesus now... now more the old man, but the new creation.

to receive His grace, deny yourself, your old man: deny him, your self-effort: deny him, your past: deny.

DENY THEM ALL, and take up your cross, take up your RIGHTEOUSNESS.

blessed night all~

Leah and her sons

2006-10-21T03:32:00.000+08:00

Leah and her sons (part 1)

Genesis 30 (New King James Version)
16~ When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." And he lay with her that night.
17~ And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18~ Leah said, "God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband." So she called his name Issachar.

how many people understand grace means to receive? a life of receiving many many blessings from God? we don't work, we don't struggle to obtain blessings amen?
we RECEIVE by grace because we are righteous in Christ, and being made righteous, am RIGHTEOUS THEREFORE TO RECEIVE.

now see here: God listened to Leah, and she gave birth to Issarchar.

now before this Leah gave birth to 4 other sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah. how did Leah first get her sons?

Genesis 29 (New King James Version)
31~ When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; ...

God SAW that Leah was unloved.

and He is such a loving, and merciful God, that He blessed Leah by opening her womb. Leah, by GRACE, gave birth to her first 4 sons. she didn't do anything! but God SAW that Leah was unloved. and thats the grace we have!

that God sees us, and gives us blessings.
not that WE see ourselves, not that WE see how much we've done, how righteous our actions were today, but that it is God who sees, and it is God who blesses us amen? now i rather live a life by grace, where God sees me, not i look to men, or look to the natural, or even my circumstances.

God sees us in Christ Jesus, for the bible says we were crucified with Him, we were risen with Him, and we are seated in heavenly places with Him. no longer i that live, but Christ that lives in me, amen? therefore, God sees us so righteous, so perfect, so holy that He can't help but bless and bless and bless and give and give and give. and our job is just to receive and give thanks to the Lord.

but many times, we feel so happy, so blessed, that when bad things happen we start to look to our own natural efforts. its can be condemnation, it can be feeling unloved, or it can be jealousy, whatever.

now look here (Genesis 29):

Leah gave birth to Reuben, and she first says,

"The LORD has surely looked on my affliction".

then she gave birth to Simeon, and she says

"Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved".

third she gave birth to Levi, and she says

"Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons."

finally she gives birth to Judah, and she said,

"Now I will praise the LORD."

now in hebrew:
Reuben is

"reh-oo-bane'" which means
"see (a son)"

Simeon is

"shim-one'" which means
"hearing/heard"

Levi is

"lay-vee'" which means
"attached"

Judah is "yeh-hoo-daw'" which means

"Praise/Celebrate"

and isnt that so us?
that when we start to receive blessings, we get so excited, that we say, "wah! God is so good! God saw how i suffered, God heard my prayer, God is attached to me, because I did this i did that. Now i want to praise Him!"

its always about us us us! its always because I, because Me.

when is it ever about Jesus? only when we are satisfied then we say, "oh yeah! God is good, praise God!"

LOOK at LEAH! Leah was blessed, but she was somebody who saw only herself. she said, "NOW i will praise the Lord" only when she was satisfied that her life will be good (that her husband will be attached to her).

when is it ever about Jesus? about Jesus and what He did on the cross? about how His love and sacrifice set us free? does God bless us because we are afflicted? because we cry day and night and then He hears us?

YES HE SEES our pains. YES HE HEARS OUR CRIES. but He blesses us because JESUS died and rose again, and all those who believe in His death, burial and resurrection are thusly blessed! its because of JESUS that we are blessed. without Jesus, what blessing can we get? without His grace, what can we receive from God? oh hallejuah for Jesus!

the chapter then ends that "Leah stopped bearing."

now in the next chapter, chapter 30 we start to see the two sisters start competing to give birth for Jacob. haha Jacob happy man la, He slept with 4 people la. ok no im just kidding.

now Rachel and Leah were using nonsense ideas like taking their maids and giving them to Jacob.

i mean what is up with the people in the past? first sign of trouble then give the maid liao. Sarai also like that!

but anyway back to here, Leah started to use self-efforts to produce babies for Jacob. she gave Zilpah the maid to Jacob and begotten Gad and Asher.

ok look here people this is very interesting.
Gad means "fortune" and Asher means "happy".

now these two were not Leah's children, they were born of Zilpah. Leah having used SELF-EFFORT to try to get blessings, FORGOT GOD.

Genesis 30:11, 13 (NKJV)
11~ Then Leah said, "A troop comes!" So she called his name Gad.
13~ Then Leah said, "I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed." So she called his name Asher.

she didnt praise God, she didn't even mention God's name anymore!
in fact, how did she credit the two sons?
she said, "a troop comes!"

now the direct hebrew translation here means "fortune".
LEAH credited her children to fortune, GOOD LUCK and then she still had the cheek to say she's happy. you know Christians should never say, "wish me luck"?

to wish me luck is to negate God's blessings and His favour. to wish me luck means to give praise to the world, and the world blesses nobody at all amen?

don't give thanks to Lady Luck or Duck or whatever. instead say, "God blessed me" or "to God be all the praise and all the glory". don't say, "oh lucky la".

oh man Leah Leah Leah, what nonsense you say!

"Good luck comes!"
"I am happy! for the daughters will call me blessed."

daughters call you bless, i call you not blessed at all. why should she want to be called blessed by MAN? shouldnt it be God who blesses? it is not Man who blesses, but the Spirit of God working in us! amen?

ok i'm gonna close soon.
He who has a ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit has said and is saying!

Genesis 30 (New King James Version)
16~ When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." And he lay with her that night.
17~ And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18~ Leah said, "God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband." So she called his name Issachar."

now only Issachar is named the fifth son. you can go read, all the other children are all called, "a son". only Issachar was special enough to be called the fifth.

why?

Because, Issachar was gotten by grace. for the bible says, "she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son".

5 is the number of grace. Issachar is born out of grace.

but but Issachar is the 7th son! Gad and Asher came first!

NO, did you know God didn't count Gad and Asher?

17~ And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

IF the bible had said, "she conceived and bore Jacob a seventh child" then yes, God has counsidered Gad and Asher. but you know what? Issachar is Jacob's 7th child! He is Leah's 5th child, and Jacob's 7th child! but God specifically wants the record to be Jacob had his 5th child.

how many can understand that?

Leah only gave birth to 5 children so far, the other two were by the maid and Jacob. so technically, Leah had 5 children, and Jacob has 7 children!

but the Holy Spirit has omitted Gad and Asher, instead saying that JACOB HAS 5 CHILDREN! NOT SEVEN!

oh this is significant! why is Issachar so special?

(do you want to learn more? then continue reading the next post.
if you're falling asleep or losing interest, its ok, God loves you~
read on next time or something.)

Issachar and Leah

2006-10-21T03:24:00.000+08:00

(continued from part 1: Leah and her sons)

Issachar and Leah (part 2)

Genesis 30 (NKJV)
14~ Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
15~ But she said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?" And Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."
16~ When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." And he lay with her that night.

now Reuben, Leah's son found mandrakes and gave them to his mother. Rachel wanted the mandrakes for herself, but apparently they were precious to Leah, for she likened her mandrakes to her husband. she said, "is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband?" obviously it mattered alot to her that Rachel has snatched Jacob away.

in fact, despite the birth of Gad and Asher, Jacob still didn't like Leah.

Rachel's 2nd son: Naphtali, which means "my wrestling" was named because Rachel struggled with Leah, and the bible says in verse 8, that Rachel won the wrestle.

and then the next few verses say that Leah used her maid to give birth to Gad and Asher. she claims she's happy la, but obviously these two children didn't win back Jacob's affection, for Rachel has already prevailed in verse 8, and because Leah said in verse 15 that Rachel snatched Jacob away.

now Leah placed a high value on the mandrakes, for the way she said things was like this, "you snatched my husband away, and now you want to snatch my mandrakes too?" it sounds as if mandrakes are all she had left, so those mandrakes meant something to Leah. indeed mandrakes are used as an aphrosidiac, so likely Leah was planning to use it to seduce Jacob or something.

now did Leah succeed? no, she didn't even use the mandrakes at all!

Rachel desired the mandrakes so much that she said she'll let Leah sleep with Jacob for a night if Leah gave her the mandrakes, so of course Leah happy la. grace grace Leah! wooo, jiayou, nevermind if you're ugly. at night cannot see anything de... haha.. oh man just joking.

*ahem*

16~ When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." And he lay with her that night.

Leah didn't use her mandrakes, she decided to give up her mandrakes, which were regarded as precious to her. the bible said she HIRED Jacob with her mandrakes, so obviously she traded mandrakes for Jacob, with Rachel for the night.

wah if i Jacob i'll just slap the two girls and say, "ooi im not a prostitute la!" but then maybe Jacob secretly happy la. he shiok what, so many girls. haha but erm. just joking.

anyway, that night was the night God listened to her:

Genesis 30 (NKJV)
17~ And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

now why did God listen?
because:
1. Leah was now using herself. she wasn't using her maid now. she gave up self-effort.
2. she surrendered to the Lord. she didn't use the mandrake to boost her vitality, she decided to use her natural self, meaning that she surrendered to God's will. Leah was barren, remember? so its natural to want to try using mandrake. but that she would surrender instead, God loves it.

for out of weakness is strength found through grace, amen?
God heard her giving up her mandrakes, heard her giving up her self-effort, and surrendering to His will.
and thus Issachar the fifth child WAS BORN! oh hallejuah!

haha ok im going to close with this.... yes its quite a long post so i did my best to cut it short.

now these two sotong ar, Rachel and Leah, go about giving birth, then naming their sons this that this that. but you know what? Only 3 times, ONLY 3 times, was God really blessing the girls.

the first was in chapter 29 verse 31: "When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb;"

the second you just saw: "17~ And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son."

the last time was:

Genesis 30 (NKJV)
22~ Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.

only these three times was God mentioned in the giving birth of the children. the others were just the two girls naming their kids.

now see here:

Genesis 30 (NKJV)
20~ And Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons." So she called his name Zebulun.
21~ Afterward she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

now this is what happened. that Leah's 6th son was called Zebulun. notice that after Issachar was born, she went back to involve God?

20~ And Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons." So she called his name Zebulun."

remember, the last time Leah counted her sons she said,

"Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." (Genesis 29:34)

she "self-efforted" herself? she praised herself for her husband's attachment?

she said that her husband will be attached to her, because SHE BORE HIM 3 SONS.
but praise God, Leah changed her mind. NOW the first thing she says is: "God has endowed me."

in the original hebrew, the direct translation of "endowed" is "zeh'-bed" which means "a gift". God gave Leah her 6th son Zebulun. but 6 is not a complete number, its not a perfect number. 6 represents labour, for God laboured till the 6th day to create the earth, but on the 7th he rested.

So Leah ended with a daughter called Dinah. Dinah means "Justice". and Dinah is the 7th child (minus Gad and Asher for if God will not include them, then neither will I)

7 is the number of perfection for God perfected the world on the 7th day and He then rested.

so, God finished His work with "Perfect Justice" for Leah. What started as God seeing Leah was unloved, ended with God listening to Leah, and finally after "Perfect Justice" has been done, then God rememberd Rachel, and came to listen to her and open her womb.

(still reading? God blessed you :p )

Rachel and her firstborn

2006-10-21T03:23:00.000+08:00

(continued from part 2: Leah and Issachar)

Rachel and her firstborn (part 3)

Genesis 30:22 (NKJV)
22~ Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.

now before this, God didn't hear Rachel.
if Leah "self-efforted" herself, then double so for Rachel!

in hebrew, Leah means:

"lay-aw'"

which means "weary".
and Rachel means:

"raw-kale'"

which means "ewe" or "sheep"

at first Rachel and Leah were competing with one another.
in fact Rachel proclaimed that she wrestled with Leah and prevailed.

but is that right?

do sheep wrestle? what more an ewe? Rachel Rachel you're a lamb of God, not a wrestler of God. why are you struggling so hard? why are you wrestling against a woman called "weary"?????

Rachel wrestled against weary, until she became weary too. oh hahaha...
ohmyJesus God really has a sense of humour!

Rachel used self-effort to the point that she desired Leah's mandrakes.

now Leah means weary. maybe thats why she needed mandrakes, haha.
ancient day viagra or tongkat ali.
but see? Rachel became weary too, so she also wanted mandrake.

tsk tsk. hahaaha!

But Rachel was a beautiful woman, she is described as

"yaw-feh'"

in hebrew, which means "beautiful" both literally and figuratively.

not only was Rachel beautiful, Jacob was attached to her instead of Leah!

but for all her beauty and her husband's love, for all that she was blessed with, when she saw that Leah was producing babies, she started to envy her sister. Envy and jealousy makes a woman ugly, and makes her do ugly things, amen?

Genesis 30:1-2 (NKJV)
1~ Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die!"
2~ And Jacob's anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

Give me children or else i die!

what she crazy ar? no children will die is it?
i mean wow! like hello? you aren't going to die just because you're barren right?

Girls, please don't be like her. don't go about threatening your husband with suicide or dying or nonsense. Jacob is absolutely no-nonsense. he didn't even bother to entertain Rachel, instead he got angry and rebuked her.

what my fault ar? God made you barren not me what!

then Rachel got a 'brilliant' idea.

oh ya! im barren but not my maid!

so Rachel gave her maid to Jacob.
then Leah saw what Rachel was doing, so she started to copy her. Leah gave her maid to Jacob too.

and when Leah had mandrakes, Rachel saw what Leah was doing, and she wanted the mandrakes too.

now the turning point came after the mandrakes story.

Who did God listen to? was it Leah or Rachel?

Leah, for Leah gave birth to Issachar.

now why did Leah give birth?

because Rachel gave away her husband what!

what kind of dumb idea was it?
you know that at first, Jacob was more attached to Rachel than Leah? for Leah said to Rachel, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?"

than what did Rachel do?

in the very same verse (15) Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes."

Rachel traded away her husband for some lousy mandrakes?
people listen up, don't discount the blessings we have. that Rachel was blessed with Jacob's love wasn't enough. she traded away her blessings for mandrakes.

you know sometimes we can get caught up in our 'brilliant' ideas that we forget our blessings? is it Jacob's fault? or God's fault that Rachel couldn't conceive? Jacob dearly loved Rachel, but what did Rachel do? she traded her husband for some silly mandrakes!

a classic example of when 'brilliant' ideas got too brilliant.

you know because of her self-effort, God didn't listen to her?

now the trade was for only one night, that Leah can have Jacob for one night. but God can perform miracles in even such a small window of opportunity. if Rachel can tell Leah that she can have Jacob for a night, it must have meant that most of the time Jacob went to Rachel instead of Leah. but was it enough for Rachel? should we forgot what we're blessed with just because others are just as blessed? Rachel succumbed to envy!

God listened to Leah and blessed Leah with Issachar, the fifth (grace) child? now Leah was barren and she sought to use mandrake root to boost herself, but by NOT taking the mandrakes, God was able to use her. for God gives grace to the humble. out of her barren womb, God gave her Issachar.

but God is a just God. after Dinah (justice) was born to Leah:

Genesis 30:22 (NKJV)
22~ Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.

now the last two children born in this story here were Dinah and Joseph.
Dinah was the 7th child of Jacob. in the last post i said that Justice was perfected.
Joseph is the 7th child born in this chapter. the first child born was Dan, which means "Judge" in hebrew.

what started with a Judge, ended with Justice, and thus Joseph was born.

now people look here:

God listened to her AND opened her womb, meaning to say He did both at the same time amen? God wanted to hear what Rachel would say if He opened her womb.

And this is what God heard when He opened her womb ~~

the very very very first words that Rachel spoke were:
"God has taken away my reproach." (Genesis 30:23)

oh hallejuah!

God has taken away my reproach! has God taken away your reproach?

God has taken away every single reproach from us! Because Christ bore all our sins and suffering, and God took them, and nailed it unto the suffering Lamb of God! oh hallejuah, hallejuah!

and Rachel named her son, Joseph, which means "He will add" or "Let Him add".

the chapter started with Judge, ended with Justice, and ended with "He will add"!
this is a picture of Jesus Christ! God judged Jesus, extracted divine justice upon His Son, and made us righteous so He can add... add what?

Rachel says, "add another son"! (Genesis 30:24)

and who was that son? Benjamin, which in hebrew means "Son of the Right Hand: the son of grace!"

God adds grace to us now!

isn't it amazing that when we realise that God has taken away our reproach, that God condemns us no longer for any and ALL of our sins, that we start to receive His grace?

hahahaha grace He has given unto us, grace by which we live, in Jesus's name, amen.
do you feel blessed for reading all 3 posts? do you have a deeper insight of grace now?

God blessed you! hahaha oh man im feeling so joyful ((((:

blessed night everyone!~

The story of David and Goliath

2006-10-18T00:45:00.000+08:00

The story of David and Goliath

1 Samuel 17 (NKJV)
38~ So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail.
39~ David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them." So David took them off.
40~ Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

wow. David power hor.
He's going to fight Goliath but he refused to wear armour and use a sword.
why?

because if David had used his armour and sword, it speaks of self-effort. for by his own strength, he must fight Goliath.

in fact the hebrew word for sword here is "kheh'-reb"
which means drought. Drought is a picture of self-effort - weakness of the flesh.

David cast off drought, instead choosing what?
a shepherd's staff and 5 stones from.... a brook!

He found GRACE, for 5 stones means grace, and he found grace in a brook, a place with running water!

haha instead of self-effort to fight, instead of using a strength that will dry up and become drought, he chose grace out of living waters. and this is God's grace: it flows, like a bubbling brook amen?

no grace is found when self-effort exists amen? just as no water is found when there's a drought. grace is given only to the humble - those who say: Lord, i cannot. just saying that - and grace will start flowing.

where does this grace we get come from?

notice that it says "...and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had..."?

why mention it two times? pouch is pouch, but the Holy Spirit wants us to know the pouch was actually a shepherd's bag.

grace is from a certain shepherd that we know (:
that grace is found in Jesus, shepherd of our hearts.
Grace is not a doctrine. Grace is a person.

when David was going to fight Goliath, he took his stone (grace) from where? his shepherd's bag. Receive your grace from Jesus! Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ amen?

Do we want to strive so hard? when we work and work, we get burned out amen? our spirits become dry and our joy dries up. our energy is burned up. thats a spirit of depression.

there are so many people out there in the rat race, whether for studies or career, just working and striving so hard. so many people falling into depression, because their inner man - their soul - has been burned up by their self-effort works until they are "kheh'-reb". they know not what they work for, why they must work so hard, for they know not the grace of our daddy God amen?

really God wants us to live by grace, and to live by grace means God gives us that grace and favour. who wants to live a life where everyday is fight fight fight? run run run? struggle and strive and work until one feels so tired of life?

God gives. God gives grace for us to do His will. so why struggle for those exam results? or for that promotion? or to obtain favour amongst Man?

rather let God's mighty hand raise you high and uphold you and KEEP you up there!

i mean they're young people who feel jaded and tired of life and suicidal! i was like that once!

but praise God that like David, i choose my weapon to be Grace flowing out of living waters from my Shepherd. go with the flow amen?

now look here - Goliath is a picture of the people of this world.

1 Samuel 17 (New King James Version)
5~ He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.
6~ And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
7~ Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

He protected himself with bronze. He armed himself with a bronze javelin. Bronze, also known as brass, is a base metal, as compared to gold or silver. its not a good metal.

Its from the hebrew word "nekh-o'-sheth"
which means fetter (chains).

the very weapon Goliath chose is also described as a staff, but of a weaver's beam. beam in hebrew is "maw-nore'"
which means yoke. as in yoke of bondage.

His weapon and armour are weighing him down! they are fetters and yokes of bondage!!!

the Goliaths of this world, terrible ar! work and work, placing themselves under the a yoke of bondage. i mean Goliath carry so many dead weight, that he can't even carry his own shield. he needs a shield-bearer. like hello???

maybe if he had dumped some of what weighed him down and carry his own shield then maybe he won't die. no shield means he couldn't block David's missile. see la, big shiny armour, big shiny spear, end up die a stupid death.

praise God that i'll rather be a David than a Goliath. i mean i want everything by grace grace and not be like Goliath, so burdened and fettered.

David fought without armour! using grace flowing from living waters amen?

Would you like to learn more about David's victory?

look here i'm going to close with this:

1 Samuel 17:45-47 (NKJV)
45~ Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
46~ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47~ Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our
hands."

this is all David fought with! He understood the grace of the Lord is mightier than self-effort and works. He fought the enemy with the Word of God, He declared victory with the Word of God. for he realised that "the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's".

it isn't strength and self-effort that is what wins the battle, it is knowing and believing that the Lord has already won the battle.

Did Jesus obtain victory on the cross?
Absolutely!

Romans 8:37 (NKJV)
37~ ...we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

We are already victorius. nevermind how big the enemy's armour is. how shiny the armour looks. how gigantic the weapon is. know only that it is not spear or sword that wins, it is the Lord that wins the battle.

Jesus has already conquered this world.

John 16:33 (Amplified)
33~ I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer take courage, be confident, certain and undaunted! For I have overcome the world. I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.

Jesus came, Jesus died, Jesus rose, and the Almighty Father placed all things into His hands. As Jesus is, so are we in this world. We are made more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Fight the enemy with the Word of God! pray from victory for Christ has delivered into our hands a land overflowing with milk and honey! it is a grace and a rest we have in Him. so pray FROM victory, not into victory. if we labour it is to enter rest, not like Goliath, to carry gigantic bling blings.

honestly i can't. the more i think about it, the more i really want, the more i really need to have God's grace to live in this world.

and so do you too? amen?
Grace grace beloveds.

Perfection of Love

2006-10-17T23:44:00.000+08:00

(first posted Thursday, 28th September 2006, 7.50am)

Perfection of Love

how can we know (test) if we're in Christ? that we can say yes we are Christians?

1 John 2:5-6 (New King James Version)
5~ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

the love of God!
it doesnt say "whoever keeps His word, the bible of God is perfected!"
it doesnt say the grace of God, or the mercy, or the blessings, or EVEN RIGHTEOUSNESS is perfected in him!!

why?

because all these were already perfected by His work on the cross.
Jesus did a perfect work.

His grace was absolute, His mercy forever, His blessings super-abounds and righteousness perfected.

so then we know that we CANNOT perfect these by keeping the Word.
by following God's word are we therefore more righteouss than our sister or brother saints?

or are pastors more blessed?
more righteous perhaps?

NO!

these are not perfected by keeping His Word. for doing so spells self-effort and works of the Law. but rather realise that Jesus died on the cross, dying doing a perfect work.
that it is HE who perfects the Word, and the righteousness and blessings and grace.

so what we have is a commandment of Love. to perfect His love to keep His Word.

the verse didn't say:
"to keep His Word, and perfect God's love"

but rather that whoever can keep His Word, God's love has been perfected!
Perfecting Gods' love first, and then you'll be able to keep His Word easily.

if we keep His word, keep His commandment, then surely it is the love of God that has been perfected in us.

Love conquers everything.
it was love for us that drove Jesus to die on the cross, and subsequently rose again, and it was His love that conquered even death in this world.

so when the love of God is perfected, and we keep the Word: "we know we are in Him." and to be in Him means to abide in His love, for God is love amen? its a simple test to see if we abide in Him: keeping the Word by having, and letting God's love be perfected in us.

ok something extra:

Matthew 5:43-46 (amplified)
43~ You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy;

Yes this is worldly wisdom!
but God's wisdom sayeth:

44~ But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45~ To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers alike.
46~ For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that?

this world's wisdom and God's wisdom are worlds apart. (haha funny punny)

why?

Confucius says, "it is not good to repay evil with good, for if you do, then with what do you repay good with? it is better to repay good with good and evil with justice."

but God, who knows all things, and holds all things in His hands, says to His beloveds, ".... love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..."

why???

what COnfucious says makes sense too!

but why is God's 'proverb' so different?

because He is far far far wiser than any any any man on earth. and He knows all things, He knows where all things go, and He holds all things in His mighty hands.

He is mighty to save us, mighty to bless us, mighty to deliver us from the wicked.
we have no need to fear about us dishing out justice.

Vengeance is of the Lord, amen?
but rather since we are children of God, show it by loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you, as written in verse 45.

WHY?

is says in these verses that, "....for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers alike."

God is our justice. though it says "He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good", though HE judges all, but we have already been judged on the cross, and are now judged as righteous in Christ Jesus.

we have NOTHING to fear, but the wicked have everything to fear! let Love therefore be our only commandment in life! Remember perfect love casts out fear of punishment!

so therefore.... what wisdom do you follow?

worldly wisdom with no understanding of where things go and how events will turn out?
or the wisdom of God, who knows all, sees all, hears all, and understands all?

Praying for Leadership

2006-10-17T23:29:00.000+08:00

(first posted Thursday, 21 September 2006, 11.25pm)

Praying for Leadership

1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NKJV)
1~ Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
2~ for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

Pray for those in authority... who ever is in charge.
governements, teachers, principals, leaders, pastors, etc...

the bible says

"for kings and all who are in authority"

and we pray this for what?

in the amplified it says that

"outwardly we may pass a quiet and undisturbed life and inwardly a peaceable one in all godliness and reverence and seriousness in every way"

in every single one of our ways,if we desire such a peaceful life, then one must have capable authority. a capable and uncorrupted government is essential to a country.

Pastor once said that a church will not rise above its leadership. similar with anything else, country, company, classroom.

without order, how can one lead a peaceful life?

God is a God of order, not of chaos.

The Law is fulfilled for us in Christ Jesus

2006-10-17T23:04:00.000+08:00

(first posted Saturday, 21st September 2006. 12.24am)

The Law is fulfilled for us in Christ Jesus

Galatians 2:20 (New King James Version)
20~ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

beautiful verse amen?

now read this verse:

Romans 7 (Amplified Bible)
1~ DO YOU not know, brethren--for I am speaking to men who are acquainted with the Law--that legal claims have power over a person only for as long as he is alive?
2~ For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is loosed and discharged from the law concerning her husband.
3~ Accordingly, she will be held an adulteress if she unites herself to another man while her husband lives. But if her husband dies, the marriage law no longer is binding on her for she is free from that law; and if she unites herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.
4~ Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the crucified body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

the apostle Paul is speaking to men who follow Law.
He explains the marriage law.
As long as a man is alive, he is BOUND to obey law (as shown in verse 1)

beautiful story of how Jesus died to set us free.

in verse 2, married woman refers to us, who were sinners once. when we were sinners, we were married to the law. we were BOUND to the law and must work to obey His laws.
Unless the husband dies, otherwise we're still bound. but God's law IS Holy.

so knowing that the Law can't be removed - for either the wife dies and frees herself, or the husband dies and she is fres - is there anymore hope?

who wants to die?
and yet the Law cannot be destroyed too.

Hope is in Christ Jesus, for Jesus didn't come to destroy the Law: rather He came to fulfill it!

in Galatians, it is said we are crucified with Christ!

beloveds, you were crucified with Christ.

YOU died.

You were the one who was supposed to die, but Christ died instead. He died, so that you can be BORN AGAIN!

so He died in YOUR place, therefore satisfying this law and setting us free from our 'husband': the Law!

and when we were born again, guess who we remarried?

Jesus Christ, dearest lover of our hearts.

and God is legal to bless us, and make us righteous.

this answers how, and WHY, the cross works to remove us from bondage of law and place us under the resting of grace.

Galatians 2:20 (NKJV)
20~ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

beautiful beautiful beautiful (:

Let our love for God grow

2006-10-17T22:43:00.000+08:00

(first posted Thursday, 21st September 2006. 12.24am)

Let our love for God grow

i think we should all give thanks to the Lord we belong to Pastor Prince's ministry. His ministry has impacted and blessed so MANY lives.

how can one man amount to so much? only if HE speaks the Word of God, the Word of Truth. i tell you, Pastor is so full of the Word amen? and the same Spirit dwells in each of us.

John 14:6 (NJKV)
6~ Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

i tell you Pastor speaks the Word of God with full accuracy. in this i know:

John 1:17 (New King James Version)
17~ For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

if grace and truth came through Christ, then whosoever preaches Jesus will inadvertantly talk about grace and truth amen?
and Pastor preaches the gospel of grace, the gospel of the good news.

how do i know that Christ is the Word to preach?

John 1:1-14 (Amplified Bible)
1~ IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.
2~ He was present originally with God.

Christ is the Word, and He was present originally with God. Christ didn't pop out of nowhere. Can you imagine God already planned on sending His son for us, even before He formed the earth?

haha Pastor preaches the gospel of Christ, and Christ is the Word, so therefore Pastor preaches the Word of God with full accuracy. easy to understand? haha~

ok anyway look here:

John 3:16 (NJKV)
16~ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

it says that God so loved us, that He sent His Son to us, to impute righteousness upon those who believe in Him.

God so LOVED us FIRST! And THEN sent His Son to make us righteous.

it doesn't say, that God sent His Son to make people righteous BEFORE He will love them. no no, it says God so loved the world that He sent His Son to make people righteous. for God loved us whilke we were still sinners. He punished Jesus Christ for our sins.

aww... how great is God's love.
its so tender and sweet amen...?

1 John 4:16 (New King James Version)
16~ ....God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

God is LOVE! how great the love of God to send His dearest most prized possession to reclaim His even more dear and even more prized possession?

the amplified bible says in the same verse John 3:16:

16~ For God so greatly loved and dearly prized [you] that He even gave up His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to and relies on Him shall come to destruction and be lost but have eternal & everlasting life.

God prizes YOU so much that He can send Heaven's greatest treasure, the darling of Heaven to die for our sins. when He comes back and stands before us, i know He'll tell us it was all worth it, that WE are WORTH it. amen?

so know that we know that God LOVED us first, and sent His Son to die for us, imputing righteousness upon us, so that we are now in Christ.

and what does being a member of the body of Christ mean?

1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (NKJV)
27~ Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
28~ And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
29~ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
30~ Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
31~ But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

God made us members of the body of Christ, each with different gifts, to serve Him better. can you imagine if everyone ran about with the gift of prophecy. then who listen?

but read the last line again.

what is the "more excellent way?"
its explained more clearly in the amplified what is the more excellent way:

1 Corinthians 12:31 (Amplified)
31~ But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces - the higher gifts and the choicest graces. And yet I will show you a still more excellent way one that is better by far and the highest of them all-- Love.

One Way that is better by far, and the highest of all the ways, even those of the ways of the Spirit! Being an apostle, being a prophet, being a teacher, speaking in tongues, interpreting, gift of healing ,etc etc?!?

The One Way that is far better and higher than these paths, is simply Love.

the way of Love.

Why is Love so powerful? why does the apostle Paul value Love so much?

Because:

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NKJV)
1~ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
2~ And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3~ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

You can be a great man of the Spirit. You can move mountains with faith, you can speak in tongues of men and even angels, you can be rich and mighty and glorious in this world, but without God's love in you, you are nothing. how many times is "God's love in me/us" mentioned?

In all the passages?

and how many times are we reminded "i am/gain nothing"?

In all the passages too.

this is important then! Realise first God's love is in you, for without revelations of His love in you, you can't amount to anything.

Seek first the kingdom of Heaven, seek His beloved righteousness. How to seek? By soaking in His love for you. and in this you know you understand how much He loves you:

1 John 4:18 (amplified)
18~ There is no fear in love and dread does not exist, but full-grown complete, perfect love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and so he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love and is not yet grown into love's complete perfection.

Beloveds, What do you fear? what do you dread? God's punishment?

were we put on this earth to wander aimlessly? surely not.
We have much to grow up to... but i'm sure we all want to grow up in an enviroment of love. and it is HERE.
therefore nurture within you a thought of Love, pure, complete, perfect, dying for you on the cross, knowing that all punishment has been exacted on His body.

isn't it interesting it says that:

"...he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love and is not yet grown into love's complete perfection..."

it doesnt say that God's love needs to grow, but rather OUR love for God needs to grow.
Nothing we can do can make Him love us more, and nothing we can do will make Him love us less. He loves us to the max.

Love isn't a dead thing. Love doesn't go "I love you" and then it stays there at that level.

No, for Love is alive! Love will grow. it is like a living thing, it will grow and it will mature and when it has been grown up completely, no fear or terror of punishment shall be left.

Redemption and the added fifth

2006-10-17T22:00:00.000+08:00

(first posted Saturday, 16th September 2006, 11.30pm)

*updated*

Redemption and the added fifth

Leviticus 27:1-7 (Amplified Bible)
1~ AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2~ Say to the Israelites, When a man shall make a special vow of persons to the Lord at your valuation,
3~ Then your valuation of a male from twenty years old to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
4~ And if the person is a female, your valuation shall be thirty shekels.
5~ And if the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, then your valuation shall be for the male twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels.
6~ And if a child is from a month up to five years old, then your valuation shall be for the male five shekels of silver and for the female three shekels.
7~ And if the person is from sixty years old and above, if it be a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels and for the female ten shekels.

Pastor shared that Moses is a picture of the Law, for the bible says the Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

The reason for males being more 'valuable' was not about sexism, but rather because God valued strength - Strength to work, to fulfil God's law. Its not to say that male and female were created unequal or that females are weak, but they were created for different purposes (obviously).

Males having more 'strength' were thusly valued higher because they are valued to have more personal strength.

But no matter how strong, how religious, how devout we are, we cannot, absolutely cannot match up to God’s standards. Only Jesus could fulfil the Law.

Praise God then for the Redeemer!

Leviticus 27:8 (Amplified bible)
8~ But if the man is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of him who vowed shall the priest value him.

Hence when a man can't pay, he is presented to the priest. The priest is a picture of the grace of Christ that works within us. The priest then shall set a value upon the man.

Leviticus 27 (amplified)
11~ If it is an unclean animal, such as is not offered as an offering to the Lord, he shall bring the animal before the priest,
12~ And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad; as you, the priest, value it, so shall it be.

Pastor shared on how we are made kings and priests in this world or something like that right? yeah, then he preached on how we can set a value on ourselves....

But you know what else I found?

Leviticus 27 (amplified)
13~ But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to your valuation.
15~ If he who dedicates his house wants to redeem it, he shall add a fifth of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.
19~ If he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth of the money of your appraisal to it, and it shall remain his.
27~ If it be of an unclean animal, the owner may redeem it according to your valuation, and shall add a fifth to it;
31~ And if a man wants to redeem any of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it.

In this entire chapter, 5 times redemption was mentioned, and each time a fifth must be added. 5 is the number of grace! Benjamin received by grace 5 times more than what his brothers got.

So if a man brings his moo moo cow and it is valued at S$100, then the redemption price is like S$120!!!

Therefore, if we go to Christ crying out for redemption, what is our price of redemption?

A fifth must be added for God to redeem us!
So when you come to Him seeking redemption.... how great was your price....?

How this works is like that:

Leviticus 27:8 (Amplified)
8~ But if the man is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of him who vowed shall the priest value him.

Think about this: you had nothing to give to the Lord. You were poor, weak, defenceless as a babe. but you know what? He loves you so much... and his tender mercies endure forever that He knew you had no 'money' or 'strength' to redeem yourselves.

"...he shall be set before the priest..."

So God having seen you, and considered your ability, and then values you.

But this means that we are valued like s***!

Ya, of course we are. We were but worthless sinners before we were saved by God's grace!

But you know what, if we had been so precious, if we had been so holy that we can fulfil God;s law, meaning we don't need grace, then

no.1 Christ died in vain,
no.2 God would not have been glorified,
and 3. His love would not be evident!

If WE were so worthless, so valueless, that God would send His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased, the treasure of Heaven, the precious Son of God to come and to die for us, and to make us righteous, then it speaks VOLUMES of God's amazing love for us!

That yes, while we were still sinners, God loved us then, and loves us now, and sent His Son to die for our sins!

He redeemed you through the cross on Calvary, through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus!

And not only that! Jesus gave His all, and paid the extra one-fifth to redeem you.
And God is mightily pleased with His Son, for know having more redeemed souls, means His Kingdom is made even richer.

God is a lot richer than before Christ came and redeemed us by the added fifth, by the added GRACE.

Hallejuah!
Jesus truly truly loves us all.

Ok let me close with this: (oh, I LOVE to type that :p )

Leviticus 27 (amplified)
13~ But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to your valuation.
15~ If he who dedicates his house wants to redeem it, he shall add a fifth of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.
19~ If he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth of the money of your appraisal to it, and it shall remain his.
27~ If it be of an unclean animal, the owner may redeem it according to your valuation, and shall add a fifth to it;
31~ And if a man wants to redeem any of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it.

What's another constant here?
That
1. if he wishes to redeem
2. if he dedicates his house to redeem
3. if he dedicates the field to redeem
4. owner may redeem
5. if a man wants to redeem his tithe
that all the times we have the choice to redeem or not!
God made us, and gave us free will.
We can choose to accept His Son or not.
Thusly we can choose to sin, or not.

Many think the gospel of grace will cause many to sin.

Well let me say this: yes God gave us the freedom to choose, and also gave us freedom from sin, that if I go out to sin, God will NOT condemn me (Romans 8:1) but know this, that God sees all, and hears all, and knows all.

I can sin, but the consequences are mine to bear. Not God, not Jesus.
Right believing will lead to right living amen?

Anyway, back here. That we have a choice to be redeemed.

Do you want to know how to receive even MORE grace from God?

Ephesians 1:7 (New King James Version)
7~ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Ephesians 3:16 (New King James Version)
16~ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,

Philippians 4:19 (New King James Version)
19~ And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

3 times it is used "according to the riches of..."
not "out of the riches of..."

why?

if something is according to, it is of a higher level than out of.

ok think of it this way.

i have $100.
i bless someone according to $100.
so my level of blessing is $100.

if i bless someone out of $100,
then the maximum i can bless is below $100.
blessing<$100.

understand?

out of $100 but cannot exceed or reach $100. the most $99.

understand?

so knowing this that God blesses ACCORDING to HIS RICHES, then better make God rich!

Value yourself, and add the fifth to it!

Redeem anything! Go ahead and value it, for Christ has died and risen again and His blood has made us Kings and Priests to our God.

(Revelations 5:10 (NKJV)
10~ And have made us kings and priests to our God; )

So knowing you are a priest, and knowing the priest can set a value, go ahead and set the value upon yourself.

Set $100, you get $120!
Don't be afraid of setting high high high value!

For know that Jesus has paid the price of redemption. Whatever you set now, it is already paid for

The higher you set a value upon yourself now, the higher the added fifth, and the happier God is - for He is made ever richer and richer.

And the more you set, the more the added fifth, and thusly the more GRACE is added unto you ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES WHICH IS RICHER AND RICHER!

AMEN! HALLEJUAH!
To God be all praise and all glory!

Mercy greater than Vengeance

2006-10-16T23:53:00.000+08:00

(First posted: 16 September 2006, 3.00am)

Mercy greater than Vengeance

Romans 12:19-21 (Amplified Bible)
19~ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for [God's] wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (requite), says the Lord.

20~ But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.

21~ Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good.

My God is a merciful God! For He made Man in His image, so surely as He is merciful, therefore He made Man to be merciful. To the uninitiated, this verse seems to contradict, but does it?

our God is gracious and merciful to save!

Deuteronomy 32:35 (New King James Version)
35 ~ Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.

in the amplified version, it says, "for the day of their disaster is at hand and their doom comes speedily."

Vengeance is Mine (the Lord's), AND RECOMPENSE!

AND, He said AND! so both are His rights amen? and He will do both.

but wait what is RECOMPENSE?

(noun)
- compensation, as for an injury, wrong, etc.: to make recompense for the loss one's carelessness has caused. (www.dictionary.com)

God will compensate, but who?
Surely God will not repay those who have done wrong!

how good our daddy God is?
That He fights our battles, and then pays us back our losses!

ok so how does this all work then?

When something bad happens to you, don't avenge yourselves.
Don't strive or work, or bitch, or backstab, or murder or whatnot to achieve vengeance. Rather let it be by grace, for it is written:

Romans 12:19-21 (Amplified Bible)
19~ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for [God's] wrath...

Why work? Why strive? Why be in the rat race?
When the bible already tells us vengeance is not our right, no its not even right to avenge!

Instead of striving so hard to be right, why not rest? Rest in His love for You, because He avenges you, and He compensates what you lost.

Proverbs 20:3 (New King James Version)
3~ It is honorable for a man to stop striving,
Since any fool can start a quarrel.

so how now? are you honourable?
Any idiot can start a fight, but it takes a man of honour to stop strife!

Ok lets go on:

Romans 12:20 (Amplified)
20~ But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.

God wants us to be merciful too. amen?
Huh? Where got mercy? Heap burning coals upon people!?

The burning coals actually refer to this:

Leviticus 16:12 (Amplified Bible)
12~ He shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the [bronze] altar before the Lord, and his two hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil [into the Holy of Holies]

what are these coals used for?

The high priest actually takes his censer, fills it up with the burning coals, and then puts incense. The sweet fragrance will cover the mercy seat of the Holy of Holies, and it was used for ATONEMENT!

God accepts this as atonement! in fact the high priest does this on the Day of Atonement!

Isn't our daddy God a God of Grace?

Atonement!
Oh hallejuah! What an amazing revelation of mercy.

Ok let me close with this:

Romans 12:20 (Amplified)
21~ Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good.

Now this is worldly wisdom I learnt some time ago:

"Repay injury with kindness.
If we repay injury with kindness, then with what do we repay kindness? It is better to repay an injury with justice and kindness with kindness."

God calls us differently, to overcome evil with good, and thus heap the Lord will heap burning coals upon their head.

The Story of Cain and Abel

2006-10-16T23:17:00.000+08:00

(First posted: 15 September 2006, 12:10am )

The Story of Cain and Abel

Genesis 4:1-7 (Amplified bible)
1~ AND ADAM knew Eve as his wife, and she became pregnant and bore Cain; and she said, I have gotten and gained a man with the help of the Lord.

2~ And [next] she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3~ And in the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.

4~ And Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat portions. And the Lord had respect and regard for Abel and for his offering,

5~ But for Cain and his offering He had no respect or regard. So Cain was exceedingly angry and indignant, and he looked sad and depressed.

6~ And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why do you look sad and depressed and dejected?

7~ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.

why did God reject Cain's offering?

Pastor shared once that it was cause Cain offered a bloodless sacrifice.
wheareas Abel bought a blood sacrifice.

Abel is very likely to have spent time with the Lord.
As David was a keeper of sheep was Abel.

You know if you were like Cain, having to till the ground, what would it mean?
How does one till the ground? Its back-breaking work, it takes up a lot of time, and it speaks of self-effort. On top of that, there is the stress involved with worrying about the crops, will they grow? What if they wither?

And oh man weeding, and making sure locusts don't eat them up.
Boo~ its not easy being a tiller of the ground.

Thusly its not easy to fulfil God's law by works!!

If you choose to go by works, and not by grace, if you were like Cain, working and working, how ever will you receive God's grace? Would you even have time to enjoy God? And even your own life?

A Christian life is not a life of slavery to working. It doesn't mean we don't have to work. I mean, I've explained this to people and the first reaction always always is, "wah no need to work ar. Then where got money?"

I don't mean don't work la. Common sense will tell you of course that's just plain stupid.

But if we work, it is only to enter rest.
If we labour it is only to enter rest.

Don't be like Cain! Work and work and work, and never have time to enjoy God.

Genesis 4:4-5 (Amplified bible)
4~ And Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat portions. And the Lord had respect and regard for Abel and for his offering,

5~ But for Cain and his offering He had no respect or regard. So Cain was exceedingly angry and indignant, and he looked sad and depressed.

God makes it so so clear that He doesn't like works. He wants grace!
I mean see here, God doesn't respect those people who go by works, for the bible says He had no respect or regard. But He had respect and regard for Abel's offering.

Isn't it amazing? God has made it very very clear even in the first book of the bible. Even before we come to the New Testament, He made it clear He doesn't want people to work to enjoy His blessings.

I mean, think about it! Isn't it so easy, so simple? That God is offering us an easy way to live life? By grace and not works, through His Son Jesus Christ.

But praise God for He is gracious, amen?

Genesis 4:6-7 (Amplified)
6~ And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why do you look sad and depressed and dejected?

7~ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.

You know, God is gracious amen?
Cain didn't do the right thing, and he became depressed. Maybe he was an emo kid or something, but God still talked to Cain.

He didn't ignore Cain. Just because Cain didn't do the right thing, doesn't mean God doesn't love him. God loves ALL His creation. When Adam and Eve were created, God came down frequently to walk with them.

(Genesis 3: 8~ And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.)

So is it with Cain: that Cain was depressed, but God spent time with Cain to teach him.

And this is what He taught Cain: that if Cain does well, he will be accepted.
Now if we live by law, by works, then we must do well, to be accepted by God. How well? We have to keep ALL of the Law!

The apostle Paul said:

Galatians 3: 10
10~ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them. "

Don't say that God cheat Cain's feelings. For as surely as Abel sought the Lord, so did the Lord sought Cain's heart! For God loves ALL His creation!

That God could - out of His mercy from His great love - warn Cain of the failings of sin in the flesh and the works of the Law speaks volume of the graciousness of God!

How gracious is our God, who comes to us even in the midst of our afflictions to comfort us and teach us.

But having now received the greatest gift of righteousness, and thusly, the greatest blessing of the (Holy) Spirit by grace! Grace is not a doctrine, as Pastor has said.

Grace is a person!

Ok I'm going to close with one last thing:

This is quite funny. Well, ok maybe not. But I think its funny.

Genesis 3:17 (Amplified)
17~ ... the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat of the fruits of it all the days of your life...

Now Adam had caused all creation be fallen,
And Cain went to offer God the fruits of the cursed ground.
I mean, hello? Common sense? God cursed the ground and all that came from it, and Cain went and offered it back to Him???

Haha like hello? Cain weren't you reading the memo? oh man even the bible has like funny jokes inside. God is a laughing God amen.

But seriously, this is a picture of God telling us that cursed are those who work. (toil to till the land for food: work to procure blessings) for He loves us so and wants us not to live by sorrow and toil.

Hallejuah!

Perfect Peace and Confidence

2006-10-16T22:00:00.000+08:00

(First posted: 14 September 2006, 9:17am )

Perfect Peace and Confidence

John 16:33 (amplified)
33~ I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

this is really such a beautiful verse.... it speaks of the power that Christ gave to us.

Because He overcame this world, so MAY we!
That even when we walk through the valley of baca, (or weeping) we MAY have peace and confidence, PERFECT PEACE AND CONFIDENCE.

The bible says we MAY have. Ok let me put it into context.

If someone says:
A: Teacher can I go to the toilet?
Teacher: yes you CAN, but you MAY not.

mwuahhaa.... Jesus 'gave' us 'PERMISSION' to have PERFECT PEACE AND CONFIDENCE!
He ALLOWS US to be of good cheer (defined as to have COURAGE, CONFIDENCE, BE CERTAIN AND UNDAUNTED in trials and tribulations)

in this world We CAN have perfect peace and confidence in this world, but who IS able to give us that?

Jesus.

why? Because the verse explained that it is possible because He overcame the world.

And how does Jesus give the good cheer?

Because when He overcame the world: He deprived it of power to harm us and conquered it for us.

Amazing love here: if He removed the sting of death in this world; that NOTHING in the world has the power to harm us, then SURELY its enough and we can be HAPPY.

but NO!

you know what?
Jesus went further.

He conquered IT for us! CONQUERED THIS WORLD FOR US!

Such a beautiful verse:

We MAY have perfect peace and confidence because Jesus overcame the world and deprived it of power to harm us, and ALSO conquered the world.

Hallejuah.

2006-10-14T01:39:00.000+08:00

Genesis 27 (New King James Version)
28~ Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven,
Of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine.

-on hiatus to practice-

shall pop by now and then to post a new msg as the Spirit gives utterance. check the other blog too.

*update*
reposted a few entries!

2006-10-02T09:49:00.000+08:00

2 Corinthians 4:4 (New King James Version)

4~ whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

what is a blind person?
imagine i can wave, dance and jump around in front of a blind person. can he see me?

NO!

and it is with those who are blinded in their religion for other 'gods'.
look nothing against religions, but im talking about my parents here.

that i can have proof before them, truths known to me and having set me free, but yet they being in bondage and again being blinded by their god of this age, cannot see!

how can it be then?

1 Corinthians 14:2-28 (New King James Version)
22~ Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.

i can speak in other tongues in front of them, but yet though the evidence is there, they cannot see it, or they refuse too. or they not blinded by their faith in a 'god' who is dead and cannot see, cannot hear, cannot help them, but himself is in hell?

i can even sprout angel wings or something and they still won't believe.

who invented their prayer chants? is it not Man?
and are not Man's efforts doomed to fail?
then so are their prayers and supplications, who fall on deaf ears. ears of wooden or ivory idols. who hears? who answers? who calls their names?

who else but our Lord and Saviour who created us in His image. as we came from the dust, but are crucified, so shall we also become made again, born again a new creation, and then again given a new body, of spiritual origins. not material, which is temporal but heavenly.

1 Corinthians 15 (New King James Version)
42~ So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
43~ It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
44~ It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45~ And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

immortality awaits those who believe in the living Christ, who testified and beheld the glory of Christ: His death, burial and resurrection. so persist in praying in the Spirit, it doesn't matter how big the problem is.

can your problems be as big as being swallowed by a giant fish?
or facing Goliath with no sword or armour?

even problems are temporal, but await our reward when we fall asleep, for we shall have a permanent Spirit-body!

Isaiah 53:7 (NKJV)
7~ He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.

Christ could at anyone time opened His mouth, spoke the Word and be gone and rid of us. leaving us to die in our own ways.

*update*YET HE opened not His mouth,
YET! He was dying, YET He won't open His mouth to save Himself? WHY! so HE can bear the FULL BRUNT OF GOD's FURY. FULL BRUNT! EVERY SINGLE THING!
not halfway He opened His mouth and ran away, but that WHILE He was opressed and afflicted, He did not open His mouth.

beautiful description of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb.
how is a lamb sacrificed? Lambs are led, and Jesus is more than a lamb! He was the Son of God! but He meekly allowed Himself to be led. He didn't say, "OK ALRIGHT ill die for you but ill walk there proudly." No... He had to be led, as a sacrificial sheep is, so He had to be too. as He had to fulfill obedience to God, so He was led as a sheep, so that today, we can become as sheep too, led by daddy God.

and notice that it says sheep before its shearers. why shearers? wasn't the sheep about to be sacrificed? then it should be butcher or something what?

but its "shearer" because Jesus was being led to be shorn of something.

shear off
~ if part of something shears off, or is sheared off, it suddenly becomes separated, especially after being pulled or hit with a lot of force

be shorn of something
to have something valuable or important taken away from you

when Jesus was on the cross, God sheared off something very important from Him... can you guess it?

God sheared off His relationship with His Son. beloved as He was, God turned His back on His own beloved Son, forsook Him, let Him suffer the full fury of wrath.

WHY?
WHY SO MUCH AMAZING LOVE GOD?
why does daddy God love us all so much? its a mystery that even angels cannot understand!

HALLEJUAH for the lamb of God, beloved darling of Heaven!
*update*

for we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way; (Isiah 53:6)

*update*
but we who disobeyed God, ALL OF US - only one Man could obey Him. by His one obedient act, many are saved. He was led as a lamb, He was not forced as a lion to His knees, He was led as a lamb, and was quiet, silence, not forced to, but He choice not to. For Jesus so loved us, that He willingly lay His life down for each and every single of one of our sins. He was cut off from God, God forsook His Son, as pastor says it, "Jesus looked up and could no longer see abba!"

Indeed then, He cried, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34)
*update*

He would obey His abba father, so that we may know, understand, perceive and then obey abba too. For if Christ could obey out of love, why cannot we who claim we love Christ? if we say we trust in God, or that in God we trust, then should we not trust His Word? and is not trust obeying Him?

the heroes of yore, written and immortalised in the bible, were they not trusting in God? who would have dared to do the feats they did, if they had no trust in God, and having no trust, never obeyed God?

would you? stand in David's place, facing up against Goliath, with nothing but a stone?

would you? win a battle not by might or force, but trusting in the living Word of God, and tear down the walls of Jericho?

or did as Moses did? raise the rod of God in his hands, so that Joshua prevailed against the Amalekites.

and as Samson obeyed God never to cut his hair, so he had his strength.

and as Uzziah sought God, so God made him prosper.

*update*
now if God said HE IS WITH YOU?
would you not trust Him?
would you not be as daring as David? to conquer lion, bear and giant?
or Daniel? to go boldly into the lion's den?
or Samson? who killed 1 thousand Philistines with a jawbone from a donkey?

if DADDY GOD SAID YOU CAN, MEANS YOU CAN! it doesnt matter how gigantice the problem may look. how high the mountain to climb is. it doesnt matter, for our GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD. hallejuah!!!
*update*

is it so hard to believe that God wants us to prosper?
need we work to prosper?
i'm not condoning working, as in having a job and career, but if God is for us, who can be against us? and if God has condenmed all in Christ's sufferings, then who can condemn us?

*update*even working seems a joy when we work WITH the Lord, for His presence is with us always. His name is Emmanuel, God is with us, and He never leaves nor forsakes you.
*update*

shall a leader do it? or a pastor? or a minister? or angels and demons?
shall our friends be the one to condemn us? who cuts us off? NO being can!

for law and grace cannot work together, but that grace can overcome law, for if grace cannot overcome the law, then Christ died in vain, for He died labouring to remove nothing.

but we who have died to our old man and am made righteous in Christ Jesus, desist from serving the law, but the commandment of love, set by Christ Jesus. Seek Him out and He'll prosper you.

then as Christ was nailed to the cross, He opened His mouth, but to plead our case before God almighty, that we should be forgiven but that He should bear all our sins.

Isiah 53:5 (NKJV)
5~ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

all glory then to Christ, the risen King then, that it is by God's grace He was saved, and as such, it is ALSO by God's grace WE are saved!

let no one take away what God has given us, the greatest gift that love can ever give: self-sacrificial love in the name of Jesus.

--

can't say im not disappointed. not a hypocrite and i won't lie. i am disappointed.... plans were made, plans were drawn. but this isn't a contest of wills, ii isn't a contest to see whose plans were made first.... but just disappointing....... i was so hyped up... how could i know feel crestfallen? or that my coutenance should not fall?

but it is not that my work is boring, for i spent time with the Lord while doing my work.

as it is Christ that lives in me, so is Christ that does my work, and the Holy Spirit that guides me and motivates me to work. for i knowing my soul is weak, and the lust of my flesh guides me to sloth, so shall i trust in God knowing His Spirit is mightier in strength and dilligence than i am.

and one last thing i want to blog about.

3 personal revelations i wana share:

Psalm 121 (New King James Version)
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills -
From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow you to stumble;
He who keeps you will not slumber.

the first being himechan once searched for the meaning of stumble and said on of the meanings was like making blunders while playing music. that as this psalm suggests, my help is from Jesus.

my guitar playing is from Jesus, i acknowledge His hand in doing this, and i acknowledge how He will never cease to watch over my playing. that He will keep me from stumbling when playing.

the second being that i used to ask God to increase my techincal skills. make my play faster, etc etc in playing guitar

but as i continued i realised that hey, himechan once shared that our guitarist, Jen isn't as technically skilled as CHC's guitarist, but that he is more anointed.

and then i come to realise that look... techincal skills are fine and dandy... but hey, if i asked God for help, yes, He CAN and HE WILL HELP ME to improve my skills.

but to what end?

the third and last thing i learnt is that i've come to realise that if im always wanting to be better in technicalities i will NEVER be satisfied.

because when im depending on my own skills, then its self-effort again. and self-effort is doomed to fail. i cannot be satisfied like this...

there's always gonna be someone better, faster, more skilled. if i looked to my skills, then i may look beside me and think, "oh no, alex can play xxx scales, oh no yongjie can play yyy scales" etc etc.

so i gave up asking God for technical skills.

above all else in this world abba, i want to be anointed instead. when anointing comes, the skills will come to complete the anointing will come too.

for God is the author and finisher of Salvation, why will he anoint but not give them the skills?

so yup... just wanted to share that..

God is my help.
too long i depended on self-effort, growing proud and deceitful, but when i came to know Jesus, when He found me, lost sheep that i am. i've grown to be depend on Him.

therefore.... i want to name myself Lazarus, variant of Eleazar: God will help/God is my help.

but then i like to modify and be alternative la. haha so i'll change Lazarus to Lazareth, variant of Lazarus AMEN!

but why not some cool name like ezekiel: strength of God?
or uzziah?
or david?
or emmanuel: God is with us?
or some other hero?

because i think Lazareth personifies who i am in Christ... that above all else, yes divine strength, yes divine wisdom, yes divine this divine that.

but above all else.... if theres one thing i've come to learn from Jesus...
its that God is my help, my assistance, for from Him comes the divine strength, the wisdom, the drive, the anointing, etc. no God, no help, no divine strength or divine blessings.

Psalm 121 (New King James Version)
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills -
From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

Lazareth.
Whoooooooo!

*update*
oh ya in all of Jesus's proverbs, no not proverbs, His... what you call them. parables. ya... only Lazarus named. the others all have no names. its obviously an important parable.

can just imagine Jesus stretching His hand towards me and calling, "Lazareth COME FORTH!"

then ill throw both hands out, thrust my hips and shout, "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

no im just kidding.
*update*

and still my heart is all the lighter for letting go.
i'm married to Christ Jesus, and my guitar is my second wife... haha!
gf can be 3rd nxt time. wahahha....

*update*
oh sorry gf 4th.
car 3rd

no la just kidding
*update*

2006-10-02T00:53:00.000+08:00

hello! a message on divine strength!

2 Chronicles 26:3-4 (New King James Version)

3~ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.
4~ And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

You know... youth doesn't matter? its anointing...?
and even though some of the leaders are young.... they are still leaders? but then its one thing to have anointing, its another to possess the wisdom to use it for the Lord.

anyway....

uzziah was just 16 years old! he was a barely legal teen!
but he became something great in God.

the bible says his mother's name was Jecholiah.
in hebrew its Ykolyah, from the words "yakol" and "Yahh"

yakol means "to be able" (eh sorry if im wrong ar, i dont really have a concordance) or "can"
and yahh means "the Lord"

so Jecholiah means "God is able, or God can, God enables".

now Jerusalem means "City of peace", and pastor shared on thursday BS how this city of peace is us, as in our body. (Judges 1:20-21 - jebusites living in jerusalem)

Jecholiah of Jerusalem - God is able/God can/God ENABLES in our bodies/from our bodies... and what does God enable us to do? in awhile's time we'll see.

2 Chronicles 26:3-4 (New King James Version)

3~ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.
4~ And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

Amaziah or "Amatsyah" comes from "amats" and AGAIN"Yahh"

"amats" carries meanings of "confirm, be courageous/strong, establish/make strong (speed - quicken)"
and "Yahh" means the Lord.

so Uzziah's father means "strength of the Lord/made strong in the Lord or to be quickened by God"!

now Uzziah is the product of Jecholiah of Jerusalem and Amaziah:
the product of "God enables us (our bodies) to be made strong in the Lord"

God is our strength!! He gives out divine strength!!!

remember pastor talked about divine strength on thursday BS?

Uzziah was the second word he mentioned, the first being the k-word la. forgot liao. ko-something.

anyway...

Uzziah comes from "oz" and ONE MORE TIME"yahh"

"oz" means "strength in various applications" or "boldness/power/strength/"!!!

*update*
amazing you know.... that God can enable our bodies to be quickened, to give us divine strength so that we have strength to do things! that we are bold, and we have dynamite power!!! to do things!!! we have strength in various applications.

it doesnt say we have strength, then so what? so much strength to do nothing?
but that whatever we set out to do, (various applications) we have the dynamite power to in our bodies!

Uzziah, a product of Jecoliah of Jerusalem and Amazaiah.

"Strength in various applications of the Lord", a product of "God enables our bodies" and "made strong or quickened by God"

*update*

2 Chronicles 26:4-5 (New King James Version)

4~ And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
5~ He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions (fear) of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.

Uzziah had the strength to do what was right in the sight of the Lord! He could do all the right things! it didn't say that God gave him the power to do what he wanted, or to fool around, but that he could do what was right in the SIGHT of the Lord.

what does the Lord deem to be right in your life?
what else but to prosper you?

when you align yourself with God's plans for you, He will also give you the strength to achieve! why should He plan soooooooo many wonderful things for you and then don't give you divine strength to do what HE PLANNED?

then He plan for what? fun ar?

so how shall we activate our divine strength?
do as Uzziah did!

He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions (fear) of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.

zechariah feared the Lord, and he gained understanding (wisdom).

but we know to fear Him means to worship Him. so worship the Lord your God!

Proverbs 9:10 (Amplified Bible)
10~ The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning (the chief and choice part) of Wisdom

but now we have the Spirit of Sonship (or "Daughtership" for some, haha) and in doing so, we have no need to be reverant and worshipful fearful of God! im not saying go be frivolous about His wisdom, but realise that He is our abba father, and which daddy won't teach his kids (children)?

so ask Him for wisdom, and then listen and apply! ask knowing, and feeling, and believing He is our daddy God, not just "the Lord our God, our Heavenly Father, hallowed by thy name"

no... so legalistic! its daddy God, abba father! as pastor has said before, how would you as a daddy feel if your children treat you like this? as if you'll hit them for asking for advice or wisdom??? God loves us so much, that He doesn't want to alienate us!!!

when we worship God, we sing songs!! we give Him thanks!
other religions must kneel down, and pray and niam keng (hokkien for "chant prayer") or must burn incense and give offering, or what.

but our God wants us to offer sacrifices of praise! sing songs of joy, and come to Him with a heart or worship, with praise on our lips and love in our soul for Him! he's daddy, not "the Lord our God, our Heavenly Father, hallowed by thy name"

but you know what? Seek God, for God will give you divine strength, Wisdom and SKILL!
SKILL!!!! can't play guitar? NEVERMIND! God will GIVE YOU the SKILL to play it amen!
can't do anything? exams? whatever! just know God is your skill amen!

Psalm 111:10 (Amplified Bible)
10~The reverent fear and worship of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and skill; ....

now then, let's go back to 2 Chronicles 26.

5~ ... ; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.

seek first the kingdom of heaven, seek first His righteousness that is Christ Jesus, and God will give you the divine strength, wisdom and skill to prosper, amen?

the story goes on, chronicling all the mighty things Uzziah did. he fought the Philistines, the Ammonites paid tribute to him, even Egypt heard of him, for his fame spread wide and far.

besides the art of war, Uzziah knew the art of defense!
he build towers for defense.

he knew about irrigation! he dug many wells and farmed!
he like farming for the bible says, "he loved the soil"

he had a huge army of mighty men of valour (as the bible quotes, not i quote)

wow! Uzziah even prepared and armed his army! he knew blacksmithing!

he was so skillful!!!!!!!!!!!!

finally,

15~ And he made devices in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.

He was marvelously helped, for as long as He sought God, God made him prosper....

sometimes we seek the blessings, but forgot who brings us the blessings....
sometimes we seek prosperiy, but we forgot who brings us prosperity...

seek God out... seek His wisdom, and he will give you divine strength, wisdom and skill to prosper in this life.

but humble yourself! never forget daddy God!

when you turn away from Him, your blessings are still there, yes, for God gave them to you. He give you something He won't take away, for nothing can come between His love for you!

but when we turn away from God, and start to forget Him... we cannot prosper.

self-effort fails!
we become blur sotong and don't know how to do or what to do about our problems!

Godly strength lasts! no joke!

16~ But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction,..

although Uzziah was marveously helped by God, he grew proud, and arrogant, and it was his downfall.

God dislikes arrogant people, He loves and blesses the humble.

why?

because arrogant people cannot submit to Him. they will not listen.
it is not that God doesn't love them, but they don't want to align themselves with God's plans! how to prosper?!?

proud people don't get sabo-ed by God leh, but God can allow it to happen so they LEARN! to be humble! usually its cause of their own arrogance that causes them to stumble and fall.

Proverbs 1:7 (Amplified Bible)
7~ ...but fools despise skillful and godly Wisdom, instruction, and discipline.

only a fool despises godly Wisdom.
they rely on their own strength, or on their own skill, but never looked to God.

now nothing wrong with skills. we all have a unqiue skill, talent, SOMETHING that only we can do, because God made us unqiue. but then what do we do with the gifts He gives us?

squander it? turn around and bite the hand that feeds us?

God loves us, daddy God loves us... when one is forgiven much, he loves much.

if two persons owe a money-lender, $10,000 one and $1,000 the other. both could not pay up, but the money-lender forgets both debts, writes off both debts. who feels more loved....?

now beloveds... don't condemn yourself thinking that you aren't forgiven much, for God removed ALL your sins on the cross. not just your past, but present and future too! every single sin you might commit, even your unholy thoughts He took them on the cross... and He sees more than we do.

maybe we see, say, 1million sins we did in the past... but you know what? God saw even more... for He sees the blood on the cross, not that we see, but that He sees and is appeased. for He alone knows all things, where all things are going!

know and feel you are forgiven even more than your knowldege ever can comprehend.

yes sometimes we stumble and fall... sometimes we feel like we're going through a rough patch... and we can't seem to see God.

but whereever you are, just do two things. simple two things....
those two things are on hanny ('s eyes).

1. Praise the Lord.
2. Christ is the answer.

1. Praise Him. just say "thank you Lord, i may not understand why i fell into this pit, i may not know how to get out, but i want to thank you for being by my side. thank you for considering me, and my pains and sufferings on the cross. my God is a good God, He loves me, He is my daddy, and i know daddy won't let me fall. Daddy God will catch me and bear me on swift angel wings, He never sleeps, but i do. i shall rest in His love, in the presence of almighty love that conquers all"

just praise Him, stir up the Spirit within. pray in tongues! or listen to anointed music, read the Word. anything that can stir up the Spirit within.

Psalm 111:10 (Amplified Bible)
10~.... Their praise of Him endures forever.

our praise endures forever. our sufferings do not... but our praise of Him does. so praise Him!!! people can burn incense and pray to Guan Yin or Tua Pek Kong, but so what? the idols crumble and fade away, the incense is burnt out but nothing happens and nobody hears their prayer!

our praise endures foever, just as His love endures foever. Aren't you glad to be praising someone who remembers everything? not your bf/gf leh. one moment forget how nice you are liao. but it is Jesus who romances us in our difficulties.

2. Christ is the answer. Know Him, consider Him, consider His love. When you can catch the revelation of how awesome He is and how such an awesome God loves you, amazing love so strong will catch you and surround you. it will buffer the chilling winds of this world.

when you praise Him, and magnify His love, and acknowledge you can't do it without Him for Christ is the answer, i tell you suddenly the problem suddenly seems small.

our hope never fails or falters amen?

2 Corinthians 1:7 (New King James Version)
7~ And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.

the sufferings here refer to the sufferings of Christ. when Christ was crucified, so were we, and that we partook of His sufferings with Him, but He went as the sacrifice in our stead.

Jesus suffered, we received consolation. in the amplified bible it says comfort.

Consider His love, judge Him not by our circumstances which are of this world, but judge Him on the cross. Go ahead, praise Jesus, tell Him He did a perfect work.

DECLARE HIS PERFECT WORK AND DECLARE VICTORY!
speak over your problems and it will shrink before you!
IT IS PAID FOR! PAID FOR WITH BLOOD, PAIN AND SUFFERING. AS TEARS ROLLED DOWN HIS CHEEKS, JESUS PRAYED FOR YOU, PRAYED FOR FORGIVENESS OVER EVERY ASPECT AND AREA OF YOUR LIFE. AS PAIN OVERWHELMED HIM, HE CONTINUES TO THINK OF YOU!!!

HALLEJUAH! what kind of man loves us so much? that He placed HIS OWN SUFFERINGS OVER OURS?

have no fear; be of good cheer!!!
for perfect love casts out fear... and perfect love is loving us all right now!

amen?

so beloveds!
i pray in Jesus name, a fresh wave of divine strength in each and every single one of the beloveds, that they have the strength, power and dynamite energy to perform the will of the Lord. let not our burning passion for the Lord be wasted, but let Him move us, challenge us to move out of comfort zone and in doing so, come to know Him even closer, come to know Jesus's great love for each of us.

i pray too that Jesus moves to fill our lives, with wisdom first and foremost and skill, and divine strength to move. Let grace be our foundation, and love be the motivator. Let not fear daunt us, but strengthen each and every one of the beloveds in righteous favour before God.

we have right standing, not that we deserve it, or have earned it, but rather received as a gracious gift from our abba father! bless every area of favour in our loves, and bless 1 hundred-fold areas that are weak or condemned! let overflowing favour cause us to prosper in this world.. but first and foremost... Jesus... let us have the wisdom and skill to handle such favour!

in Jesus name, i pour the righteous blood of Christ over every situation that plagues our heart, tender, weak and sore from the toils and sorrows of this world. Let Him who sits on the throne of righteousness REDEEM every ill situation, every condemning lie, for Jesus PAID for it on the cross.

HE PAID, and WE RECEIVE by grace. We take it, every single blessing and favour of the Lord. because HE PAID and we do not want to sqaunder any of it away.

Therefore, let us learn something new everyday, be challenged in small ways, develop us, mould us, that we become mighy men and women of God. strong and grounded in love, wise in Jesus, and having foresight to seek Him above all else.

Do something new for us everyday Jesus, surprise us with Your love, as a husband surprises his wife with gifts of romance, therefore romance us Lord.

our love and passion for You shall never die, because i know You will never stop loving us too!

AMEN!!!!!!!!!! AMEN AMEN!!!!!!

no need to wait for the sun to shine,
no need to wait for the clouds to clear,
i'll still sings:
i know that my God You're so good