Monday, November 26, 2007

Forever Grateful lyrics

You did not wait for me
to draw near to You
But You clothed Yourself
with frail humanity
You did not wait for me
to cry out to You
But You let me hear Your Voice
calling me
And I'm Forever Grateful to You
I'm Forever Grateful for The Cross
I'm Forever Grateful to You
That You came to seek and save the lost

By: Mark Altrogge

First things first

From Power Point with Dr. Jack Graham:

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

--Matthew 6:33

In today's verse, we see Jesus teaching us the principle of putting first things first. Which means before we ask for anything in prayer, we need to make sure we're putting first things first... seeking God's Kingdom and glory in every area of our lives.

So today I want to give you a little test. And I want you... as best you know how... to answer these questions honestly. It may be hard to admit some of your answers to yourself. But I truly believe this test will help you reorder your priorities... and as a result, reinvigorate your personal prayer life.

Question #1: Do you give God the first thoughts of your day? Even before your feet hit the floor, do you thank God for another day of life... of health... of family... of friendship? A great verse to quote to start your day is Psalms 118:24, "This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." I encourage you to memorize this verse today!

Question #2: Do you give God the first day of your week? God has set aside a day of the week to worship and honor Him with other believers. He's done this to give us strength and power in the midst of our crazy lives. Are you taking advantage of this awesome opportunity?

Question #3: Do you give God the first place in your life... stewarding well what God has given you? This not only includes your income, but also your family and your time. Stewardship is really a matter of Lordship!

Question #4: Are you giving God the first of all your desires? Because loving, serving, or worshipping anything more than Jesus Christ is idolatry, plain and simple.

As you answer these questions honestly, it's my prayer that God will reveal to you any priorities in your life that might be out of order. And... as He does this... it's my hope that you will begin putting first things first.

And by doing so, it's my hope that you will experience the joy of a powerful prayer life!

before we ask for anything in prayer, we need to make sure we're putting first things first.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Proverbs 3:1-12 (The Message)

Good friend, don't forget all I've taught you; take to heart my commands.
They'll help you live a long, long time, a long life lived full and well.

Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God's eyes and the eyes of the people.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all.

Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own; give Him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.

But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction.
It's the child He loves that God corrects; a father's delight is behind all this.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Choose life

Deuteronomy 30:19: I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Sometimes it takes longer for some people to grow up. Why is that so? As I reflect on my own life, there were times that it was slow for me to grow up. And God would allow us to go through some kind of troubles, or trials, or pressures, that we may grow.

We had a Lifegroup last night, and we learned so much from one another, we were discussing about few things, such as potential, choices, our minds (or thoughts). Ultimately, God wants to change us from inside out.

Mind is very powerful thing. And it also ties together with the choice we make. There are many sermons and messages in regard to "mind". Here is a little bit from my pastor Mark (thanks again for the notes):

------
The ABCs
-Adversity: when we encounter adversity, we react by thinking about it.

-Belief: Our thoughts rapidly form beliefs. These beliefs may become so habitual that we don't even realize that we have them unless we stop and focus on them.

Emotions and actions do not follow adversity directly. Rather they issue directly from your beliefs about adversity.

- Consequences: beliefs don't sit there idly; they have consequences. The beliefs are the direct causes of what we feel and what we do next. They can spell the difference between dejection and giving up, on the one hand, and well-being and constructive action on the other.

Example A:

A – You didn’t get the promotion at work.

B – You think … you’re no good, you’re going to lose your job, your career is over, you’re going to you’re your car OR you need some more time to develop yourself and I’m sure they’ll be another opportunity.

C – You are depressed all day and don’t get much work done OR you feel fine and have a productive day.


Example B:

A – You’ve had some intense arguments with your wife.

B – You think … our marriage is over, maybe I married the wrong person, maybe we’ll end up divorced OR we can work through this, we’ll get some help if necessary, this will make us stronger in the long run

C – You give up and refuse to make any effort to fix things OR you make an extra effort to work it out, getting help if necessary.

If you change the habitual beliefs that follow adversity for you, your reaction to adversity will change.

------
Romans 12:1-2 (The Message) says:
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Quote of the day

"Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can fly ".

~TD Jakes

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Bunnings

We went to Bunnings just now, and I can tell you, there are a lot of things I wanna buy, for home renovation etc. If only I have more money.... then I'm just reminded of a Bible verse from 1 Timothy 6:6 which says: godliness with contentment is a great gain.

It's interesting that the apostle Paul was writing to Timothy in this passage, and the context is the love of money. If we read the rest of the chapter 6, in fact, let me copy and paste it: (NLT)

6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.

9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

11 But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses. 13 And I charge you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you obey this command without wavering. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 15 For at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. 16 He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen.

17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

20 Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. 21 Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness. May God’s grace be with you all.

My question is, when is enough enough? Where do we set the limit of having enough? I guess verse 7 says it all...

Gonna sleep soon, God bless you all.

-jr

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

another public holiday....

and it just went like that.... time really flies fast today, what did i do? actually i must say, quite a lot of things, from tennis, pumped petrol, washed car, rest a short while, a bit of shopping, mowed the lawn, then we went to our friends' for dinner, by the time we got home was almost 9pm.

now is almost midnight, so i'd better sign off now...

Hebrews 11:1 -
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

Matthew 11:22 - Have faith in God.

-jr-

Saturday, November 03, 2007

we've gotta pray... just to make it a day

Prayer.... we know so much about it, but do we actually do it? Well, I try to anyway. Just came back from a prayer meeting with my friend Brury, we started this -every fortnight Saturday morning, half an hour 7:30am- prayer meeting not long ago, and it's been very good. Not to mention another one with the Casey Young Adults, we may need to reschedule this one, don't know, must talk to Leo about this.

Jesus understood the power of prayer, in fact, from the gospels, we read a lot about Jesus often had to get away from people, and just pray, in Luke 5:16 it says:
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

A lot of Bible verses in regard to prayers, here are some of them:

2 Chronicles 7:14:
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Ephesians 6:12: For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:18: And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

and many more... anyway, this blog is just a reminder for all of us, that we need to put into action what we already know.

By the way, Pete, if you read this, have a safe trip to Africa, will see you in couple of weeks when you return, will check your blog regularly for updates (if you have access to internet from there...), I'm sure you'll have an exciting trip.

Anyway, gonna relax a bit and go to church later in the day, we are gonna have fun in the kitchen, yeahhhh!!!

-jr-