“I-Can’t-Believe-You-Prepared-That”

Convocation Photos

Yes, we made it.... finally.

Convocation Day

I hope my mortarboard will not drop halfway because I cannot clip it to my hair using hairpins. The reason being that my hair is too short. haha... =)

Serve, Serve, Serve... with J.O.Y

As I went to camp today for my usual working routine, I am thinking and pondering about this issue of serving. Yes, I am in national service now which is what every Singaporean guy has to go through. However as I serve, I wonder how should I serve so that I do not feel so burdened or upset over the things which I have to do for serving in my branch. By the way, working in my branch is all about serving people. Quality and Pride.

At the end of the day (or nearly end liao...), I found out that there is one word which is crucial while you serve. That is "JOY". Ever wondered why is JOY spelt as J... O... Y...? During one of the sermons which I went through at a Shanghai church, I learnt from the speaker that JOY is spelt in this way because of the following reasons:

We should put Jesus as our first priority while we serve.

We should put Others as our next highest priority while we serve.

And... we put You (that is me or ourselves) as the last priority.

Then we will get JOY while we serve so we should serve with JOY!

Get it?

Many times I have felt tired, weary or even to the extent of burdensome to find energy to serve in ministry. In addition, I have really a lot of things to do in ministry too. Thank God for giving me this word, JOY and reminding me once again to serve with JOY.

My branch motto is Quality and Pride.

My personal motto with God is Serve with JOY.

Like that hor, I will not be tired but I will serve happily and smilingly because I know God will be pleased to see me serve in such a manner. =)

When I Say ...

When I say..."I am a Christian"

I'm not shouting "I am saved"

I'm whispering "I was lost"

That is why I chose this way.

When I say..."I am a Christian"

I don't speak of this with pride.

I'm confessing that I stumble

And need someone to be my guide.

When I say..."I am a Christian"

I'm not trying to be strong.

I'm professing that I'm weak

And pray for strength to carry on.

When I say..."I am a Christian"

I'm not bragging of success.

I'm admitting I have failed

And cannot ever pay the debt.

When I say..."I am a Christian"

I'm not claiming to be perfect,

My flaws are all too visible,

But God believes I'm worth it.

When I say..."I am a Christian"

I still feel the sting of pain

I have my share of heartaches

Which is why I speak His name.

When I say..."I am a Christian"

I do not wish to judge.

I have no authority.

I only know I'm loved.

Religion. A very 'big' word for some.

A very 'spiritual' word for some.

And for some, it's a segment of life that is missing and ignored.

When asked, "What's your religion?",

immediately, we get different answers

How many of us really think,

is that really my own strong conviction?

Or was it my parent's?

Or was it my friend's?

What's my religion then?

To be very honest with you,

I do not have a religion...

Religion?

It's useless.

It's unbelievable and too far fetched.

It's confusing.

It's just a name.

But this I have.

A relationship with God.

An intimate relationship with the Creator,

who knows me by name,

who created me exactly the way I am,

who lifts me up when I break down to the deepest pits,

who rescues me from burdens far toobig for me,

whose Love for me never changes no matter how far I stray,

who loved me until He did His craziest act for me...

To die on the cross for my sins so that I can be reconciled to Him.

So what's my belief?

Well, it's definitely not about a set of rules which were given to me,

obey them so that God would love me.

It's about the love which He had already shown me before I even knew Him.

It's not working for Him or doing good deeds so that I can go to Heaven.

It's about the free gift of eternal life which He offered,

free of charge,

if only I would let down my pride and receive the gift.

I was on the highway to hell,

and it was Christ who stepped down into my world to give me a ride to the path to heaven.

No other did the same...

I was trapped in the bondage of sin,

of selfish indulgence and the pleasures of this world.

But they were all hollow...

It was Christ who came and gave me freedom as He took my shame and weaknesses once and for all as He hung there on that old rugged cross.

No other did the same...

I was puffed up with pride,

thinking I was wise, I was in control of my life.

Not when the calamities of life came.

Death of loved ones, financially crippled, decisions which led to regrets...

It was Christ who came and showed me humility,

though He was God,

He made himself a nobody,

a servant,

a man of dependant on the grace of God.

No other did the same...

I was a wretch, a sinner, condemned, guilty and unworthy.

But...

It was Christ,

who reached out His hands to me, saying the three words every human longs and aches for deep down.

"I love you."

No others did the same.

I didn't find such unconditional love in others.

Not in money.

Not even in my friends and families.

Not even in pleasure and entertainment.

Not in anything at all in this world.

Are you like me?

Confused?

No way out?

Lost your purpose, or never had one in life?

Then, I want you to know, this same Jesus is reaching out His hands to you,

ever faithful, ever waiting for you to accept that gift He gives freely.

'Religion'?

It's still useless.

But a relationship with Christ?

A bargain that's worth giving your life to.

(",)

I will like to thank this brother who emailed this interesting literature to me. =)

毕业等于失业？

Soon, I will be convocating to be conferred a degree by some academic. The ceremony will last for about one and a half hour. After that, I will go out into the world to work for the rest of my life till I retire. The crucial thing is this: does graduation mean jobless?

The title of this entry was mentioned to me by one of my GIP Shanghai mates. What he has said has some element of truth in it. I will not deny the bulk of about ten over thousand of students jobless in East Asia upon graduation. A degree does not mean much and the crux of the issue is there are not many jobs for the many jobless people in the street.

After much prayers and seeking the Lord, I think I will be going out to the working world. In spite of all the struggles and temptations that faces me ahead, I would still want to follow God, put on His full armor and cast all my anxiety onto Him. Indeed, taking His yoke upon me, learning from Him will enable me to find rest for my soul.

Is this IT?

Tomorrow, I will be travelling down to school to collect my academic gown, transcript, certificate and invitation cards. After more than a decade of education, does this mark the end of my education? Is this IT?

Thinking through that it seems like yesterday when my mum put a slip of paper containing the plate number of my school bus into my right pocket of my uniform and she instructed me where to wait for the school bus. Now, everything is over? Will there be any chance that I will step back into a school again to receive further education?

I think I will have to leave it all to God. At least I know that He has the best plans for me. =)

Childhood Toys

Coating New Paint

My house is now in the process of coating a new lease of paint. Tonight, my parents and I shifted out the things inside our storeroom to make way for the painters to paint it tomorrow. I realised that over these eight years, we have stored up a great number of things in our storeroom. This picture shows the "mess" now in my house. (",) Haha, I took this picture out of fun.

So the next time if you are coming to my house, enjoy the new look and give some constructive comments bah. Hehe. =)

Run

I just had a run with a fellow brother near my home. Enjoyed the run because got two '1st time's. 1st time running with a partner and I have to make sure that our paces are similar. Haha. 1st time wearing my formation singlet as my running gear.

Overall, I feel good having a partner to run with you or exercise with. In a way, both of us can be encouraging each other and spurring each other on. This is also how a Christian life will be like. I believe that God will not have us living our Christian lives alone but with the support of fellow brothers and sisters, right? Together, we are the body of Christ. Let us be united with God and be one with Him in spirit so that we can do all the work the spirit want us to do. Yeah!

To end off, we also saw another guy wearing the same formation singlet... hmm...

The Armor of God

All of us need the armor of God. The reason is our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph 6:12).

Hence, God wants us to put on His full armor so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes (Eph 6:11). He even told us through James to first submit to Him, resist the devil and he will flee from us. Satan has to flee once we submit ourselves to God (James 4:7).

Let's put on the armor of God and resist the devil today. The full armor of God is as follows:

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 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.

Remember that our Lord Jesus has all things under His feet and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. He, being faithful will strengthen and protect us from the evil one (2 Thess 3:3).

Bedtime Prayer

Thank You, Lord, that You have brought me into Your family and have blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Thank You for this time of renewal and refreshment through sleep. I accept it as one of Your blessings for Your children and I trust You to guard my mind and my body during my sleep.

As I have thought about You and Your truth during the day, I choose to let those good thoughts continue in my mind while I am asleep. I commit myself to You for Your protection against every attempt of Satan and his demons to attack me during sleep. Guard my mind from nightmares. I renounce all fear and cast every anxiety upon You, Lord. I commit myself to You as my rock, my fortess and my strong tower. May Your peace be upon this place of rest now. In the strong name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen

Breakthrough to Spiritual Maturity

I have just came back from my church Young Adults (YA) retreat. It was a three days two nights retreat at Sentosa Scripture Union Campsite and my eyes are really opened by God to see the Truth right from the beginning in Genesis.

Firstly, for the first time, I realised that we being God's created beings come in a package of three components namely, Spirit, Soul and Body. This certainly allows me to see the importance of my Spirit because this is my only component which allows me to communicate with God and to receive His instructions for me. My Soul plays the role of decision making like meeting nature calls, eating, drinking and resting. However most of the times, my Body who is the one doing the physical expression of the instructions of the Soul, do not heed to the calling of the Soul. Hence, this often results in sin taking place in our life. Together, my Soul and my Body constitutes my Flesh.

Throughout the retreat, I began to realise the increasing importance of the roles that the Holy Spirit is playing in my spiritual life. Indeed, all of us are spiritual beings although we also have our own flesh (Soul + Body). Ultimately, what really counts in the end is our Spirit because only through the Spirit can we really know God and hear from Him. If I do not know Christ, my Spirit will be dead in my sins. I am only left with my Flesh (Soul + Body). I definitely need Christ to revive my Spirit so that I can establish a personal and intimate relationship with God. The Bible says in Rom 8:10 that if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Furthermore, the devotion for the two mornings talked about the Spirit too. The first devotion mentions about praying to God to live above my fleshy desires today by exercising my spiritual inheritance at every temptation. The second devotion mentions about being led by the Spirit when praying to God. Overall, I felt ministered by God strongly regarding my Spirit and the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord for reviving my Spirit to know you personally.

Another issue which I learnt from God is Spiritual ties and bondages. The speaker demonstrates to us through actors and actresses in a scenario of a marriage couple. Here he first defines the biblical meaning of "The two will become one flesh." (Gen 2:24) Interestingly, as mentioned earlier, flesh = soul + body. Hence when a husband has laid with his wife, the two of them will become one flesh and spiritually bonded together. This is a beautiful picture of a marriage. However, the spiritual bonding can happen in sexual sins too like adultery, fornication, premarital realationships, homosexual or lesbian relationships, bestiality and pornography. In these cases, our spirits may be actually bonded to other demonic spirits. This is how scary it can be.

When we go into a marriage with all our additional spiritual bondages, we are not getting a "two become one flesh" but "multiple become one flesh"! Hence, this creates a stronghold for Satan to come in to destroy and conquer. Therefore, to cut away our spiritual bondages due to sexual sins, we need to sincerely come before God to repent and renounce of our sins and ask Him to deliver us from our bondages.

Throughout our ministry time, I experienced the power of God delivering me from my spiritual bondages. He is indeed my True Saviour and Lord! Thank you, Father God for delivering me and making me clean and free in Your Presence. In response, I will like to pray this prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, I praise You and honor You as my Lord. You are in control of all things. I thank You that You are always with me and will never leave me nor forsake me. You are the only all-powerful and only wise God. You are kind and loving in all Your ways. I love You and thank You that I am united with Christ and spiritually alive in Him. I choose not to love the world or things in the world, and I crucify the flesh and all its passions.

Thank You for the life i now have in Christ. I ask You to fill me with the Holy Spirit so I may say "no" to sin and "yes" to You. I declare my total dependence upon You and I take my stand against Satan and all his lying ways. I choose to believe the truth of God's Word despite what my feelings may say. I refuse to be discouraged because You are the God of all hope. Nothing is too difficult for You. I am confident that You will supply all my needs as I seek to live according to Your Word. I thank You that I can be content and live a responsible life through Christ Who strengthens me.

I now take my stand against Satan and command him and all his evil spirits to depart from me. I choose to put on the full armor of God so I may be able to stand firm against all the devil's schemes. I submit my body as a living and holy sacrifice to God and I choose to renew my mind by the living Word of God. By so doing I will be able to prove that the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect for me. In the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

To end off this entry, I will like to remind myself of the retreat theme song:

"I Will Never Be"

I will never be the same again

I can never return

I've closed the door

I will walk the path

I will run the race

And I will never be the same again

Fall like fire, soak like rain

Flow mighty waters

Again and again

Sweep away the darkness

Burn away the chaff

And let a flame burn

To glorify Your name

There are higher height

There are deeper seas

Whatever You need to do

Lord, do it in me

The glory of God fills my life

And I will never be the same again