The Lord is my rock

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
³     my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield^[a] and the horn^[b] of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—
    from violent people you save me.

⁴ “I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
    and have been saved from my enemies.
⁵ The waves of death swirled about me;
    the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
⁶ The cords of the grave coiled around me;
    the snares of death confronted me.

David sings this song which confirms everything we had discussed! David does not rely on human judgment or is affected by it. For he knows:

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.: my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.

For His victory on Israel is not based on His own strength but his victory was based on God's strength. All his victory was not based on His works but was based on God's grace. God desides his fate, not people.

When we view life, our achievements our problems. Do we credit God when we achieve? Do we look to Him when we have problems? God is God, He is the giver of life and has the final word. Because if He wants to take it away, He would. There is no doubt about that. So, the question is do we share the same view as David? I pray that i always recognize that He is Lord and not be upset over anything because He is in control. And praise Him in all the days and in all the ways.

SFB

This sermon was short but really powerful! We are all self-centred. We tend to see more of our problems and our needs than others. Sometimes, it is easy for a person to just forget God's goodness and victory and just wallow in self-pity. We always want attention from God and we always try to seek more of His attention and wants God to attend to us. When are we really going to stand up and go forth and claim His victory? I admit that sometimes I live in His grace and not for His grace and for His glory. Being just comfortable and just happy to be in this state. I recognize that we are really the answer to the world and all we got to do is to just reach out and share to people. I am impacted by the verse in Ephesians. I have never seen the verse like this before, in this light. The verse says: The Church you see is not peripheral to the world; the word is peripheral to the church. The Church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence. The peripheral here refers to an addition. This word peripheral refers to something that can go without, to be part of something but as a component. This is awesome because Church is the body and the world is a component of the Church. But Church is the important, irreplaceable part that is absolutely necessary. We are that irreplaceable part and we need to start to be that irreplaceable part and claim that spot in the society!

Just like that

23 Joab was over Israel’s entire army; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; 24 Adoniram[c] was in charge of forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;25 Sheva was secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 26 and Ira the Jairite[d] was David’s priest.

Joab committed murder there and then and now He is in a place that he wants to be. Do we commit murder to achieve whatever we want too? We murder God's goodness and God's plan so that we can get our way. Do we recognize that He reigns over our lives and He is the only entity that does not change, God is the only constant! I recognize that sometimes i am like Joab, just because of jealousy, for selfish reasons, I killed God's goodness for my selfish desires. 

21 During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

God disciplines! We rarely see God doing this. Rarely does He comes out and punish people. He does but He is graceful. This reminds me that whatever we do here on Earth, we ultimately need to account that to God. As to why we did it and all. Just as we account to our authorities, we would need to account to God Himself. Know that He is Lord. For He is Lord and He is Good.  

Killing and jealousy

⁹ Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” Then Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. ¹⁰ Amasa was not on his guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground. Without being stabbed again, Amasa died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bikri.
¹¹ One of Joab’s men stood beside Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!” ¹² Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road, and the man saw that all the troops came to a halt there. When he realized that everyone who came up to Amasa stopped, he dragged him from the road into a field and threw a garment over him. ¹³ After Amasa had been removed from the road, everyone went on with Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.

Jealousy, What a powerful word. God knew that jealousy would kill us, look at what Joab had done here? He killed his brother because of Amasa's rise to power under David! This is the power of jealousy. Although in this world, we are likely not to kill, we ask ourselves, do we fear God more or do we fear the consequence? If we say we fear God more, do we really? Do we really fear God more? If we can kill without consequences would we kill? That's what jealousy can lead to. What drives us sometimes is jealousy. We need to look past that and look at Christ's glory. The glory of Christ is more worth to work towards than just plain jealousy. We can be jealous of someone's results and we work like a mad dog towards that, but hey. Christ died for us. We as Christians claim God's victory. We should claim it in His name. The question is do we?

Plan?

20 Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjamite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted,

“We have no share in David,
    no part in Jesse’s son!
Every man to his tent, Israel!”

² So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bikri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

³ When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them but had no sexual relations with them. They were kept in confinement till the day of their death, living as widows.

This is David's tough times. He faced His son in a battle. Then His commander killed His son on purpose, against His order. Then when He is back to claim Israel, He faced so many problems. Through this story God revealed to me that He is LORD. David knew that. He knew that the Lord can take and give as He pleases. He can choose who to give and who to take. Imagine if God was against David. David would have died long time ago. But David did not. He survived and emerge victorious. God is in control, not people. Absolum wanted to kill Him, but David survived. So many people were against Him. Saul was another one, until the Lord took Him away. Now theres another one. In life we would always meet such challenges, all we got to do it to remember who is Lord and find rest in Him. Because when we do, everything will work out, God's way. Amen.

Lose Your soul??!! For the world?

Recently, God has been putting this verse into my heart. The verse is Mark 8:36.

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Did i lose myself to find God? Did i do it? If i did not do it, i did not find God. Because Jesus said to the crowd. "Whoever wants to be my disciple MUST deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." MUST deny themselves. He went on to explain, people who want to save their life, must first lose it in front, lay it on the cross first, then their lives will be saved. What good is is for someone who gain the whole world and forfeit their soul? In this world, especially in Singapore where competition is tough. We Christians can get caught up in the rat race and forget who is Lord. We can gain material wealth, so much of it. But whats the point? Do we even ask ourselves, WHATS THE POINT of working so hard for the world? Can money buy one fulfillment? Can success bring one fulfillment? Can power bring fulfillment? Maybe temporary but never eternal. Only God can give us that fulfillment. Because We are designed to have a Lord over our lives, to worhip a God. We stole that place that God's supposed to be and sold it to the world. Thats no wonder why Jesus said lose their life in front of the cross and you will gain it. Lord, thank you for speaking to me about this. I need to be very careful about this. Do i really want to gain the whole world but lose their soul? No. I really don't want that. I just need You Lord. I cry out for You. Lord come and fill Us. Lord i pray that you convict me Lord, so that i will NEVER trade You for the world. Because that is dumb, so dumb Lord. Lord i pray that i will always always walk with you and never want to gain the whole world but lose my soul. But rather, seek You first and your righteousness and You will add things onto me. 

I Pray that whoever that reads this will be convicted and lay their life on the cross as well and claim that victory that God had won. Live for Him and not the world.

Listen to this song:

David Returns to Jerusalem

⁹ Throughout the tribes of Israel, all the people were arguing among themselves, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies; he is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. But now he has fled the country to escape from Absalom; ¹⁰ and Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”
¹¹ King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: “Ask the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters? ¹² You are my relatives, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?’ ¹³ And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if you are not the commander of my army for life in place of Joab.’”
¹⁴ He won over the hearts of the men of Judah so that they were all of one mind. They sent word to the king, “Return, you and all your men.” ¹⁵ Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan.

Everyone in the country treats David like a second rate king. When Absolam was alive, they forgot David and just prefers Absolom. And now when Absolom was killed in battle, killed by David's troops, they are left with no choice but to invite David back. It must be so sad for David to be treated as a second rate king. God will never treat us this way. God will never treat us as second rate! God will always treat us as first class citizens. We are all God's children. No one is higher than the other in the eyes of God. Everyone is equal. God loves everyone equally. He does not love someone more than you, but everyone is loved. People can fail us but God doesn't. David when faced with this problem, he doesn't go like, curse God. He just pressed on for He knows who is God and people do not choose their king, But God chooses their king. God has the final say. People make plan, but God has the final say eh! :D

Blessed are we.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:3-12 NIV)

Lesson for those that obey God's commandments. Are we a follower of His commandments? Are we true believers of Christ? How much do we believe that God is real? How much do we forsake him? I feel that sometimes we are selective in believing in God and that's the biggest problem. We do not believe fully in Him and we sometimes forsake Him. I pray that we all can always remember to look to Him.

A Dream

I dreamed of something quite related to a verse: "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14, not really directly but indirectly. I dreamed of a girl, around 12~13 year old in age. Everything is normal about her but one thing, She is pregnant, and there is a hole on the side of her tummy, exposing the baby. I met her with her mother who looked disgusted as they are outside. Many people is around us, looking at the girl in a weird way. The girl didn't know what is going on, but she knows that there is something about them that cause fear into her. Everyone is afraid of touching her. As I approached her, she look at me in my eyes and ask me, "do i look a freak to you too?" At that time, I paused. And there is whole new presence just flow into my dreams, and I saw part of this verse in my mind: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." and so is she. I answered to her into her eyes: "No, you are beautiful."  At that time, I sort of thought to myself, no matter how does a person look like on the outside, doesn't portray what they are in the inside. That person is a beautiful creation of God too. And the Father accept them for who they are, accept me, us for who we were, as sinners. Won't we being accepted by God accepted them too? Everyone is uniquely beautiful in their own ways, as God has created them to be. No man is more beautiful than another. No man is more special than another. After that, i reached out to the girl and give her a hug, and said to her, "I love you, just as God love you too." And I woke up suddenly. 

Are we just "out of our mind" or "out of God's heart"?

If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. But what does out of our mind means? Are we not being behaving normally if it for the sake of God? As I asked myself these question, an scenario pictured in my mind. "You are a foreigner at the riverbank, there are people around you, people from the village, there is a villager drowning. The river is leading to a big waterfall. Everyone around you is hesitant on saving the poor guy as they know chances that they will be able to save the guy in time. What would you do? Jump in straight without hesitating? Or join the villagers and watch helplessly? I told myself i would jump in straight to save that guy. Then one villager call you to me: "Are you insane?? Are you out of your mind? You will not be able to make it!" I turned back: "Even if I'm out of my mind, it is the will of God for me to save him." From it, I realized, the levels of "out of our mind", how the world deems as "insane", but it is for God's best interests.

What about "being in the right mind"? Based on the the previous scenario, I found myself being able to save the guy and carry him back to village. I told myself I have to nurse him back to good health so that he returns to his life with his people. Even when my mind is right, it is for the interests for the villager who needs help.

Conclusion, there is a time for us to be "mad" (of how the world views us) but it is for God's interests. But also there is a time of calm, sensible conduct, for the benefits of the people.

"My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. " Philippians 4:29

many of us unknowingly put earthly things as our priority today.  I realised that I always have this statement, "as long as I have my friends I will be fine", on my mind.  Every time I want to rant,  I need help or advices, I will immediately turn to my friends via text/call than to talk to God about it. I discovered that by putting people in the place of God,  They had become idols in my life,  because I constantly need them. But when They don't give me a satisfying answer,  I tend to get all upset and insecure because I was placing my trust in people who could be taken away eventually.

He is the one that you can really rely on. So never believe that God is not enough,  because he is more than enough for us.



Romans 3

3:5
"but some might say our sinfulness serves a good purpose,for it helps people See how righteous God is"

Well most people would argue that God only shows us his greatness in Times of darkness.We have to be able to identify  what other simple things God has blessed us with.To God,a sinner is a sinner there is no shortcut and we will eventuallt have to answer to him!

Romans 3 is all about us as sinners and that no one is excused from God nomatter  if we are Jews or gentiles.There is no difference.
Romans 4:5

" but people are counted as ririghteous, not because of works but because  of their faith in God who forgive sinners"
This brought  me back to discipleship when I told my sheapard Eric that when I go to heaven now,I dont think I can enter the gates  cos of my poor knowledge of the bible.This verse shows the promise from Christ when we accepted him in Faith  we were alr allowed to enter the gates!

Like what the bible Says .people tend to worry if their faith is strong  enough to save em but they forgot That we are alr saved by Jesus!

Be still and know that I am God

A few weeks ago, I have been trying to get Brendy to go church. But I realized at that time, my duty is not to get her to go church but to get her to know Christ. I recalled many times i try to get her to go church, and each time, i failed. I get frustrated of why is that I am trying help her yet I was refused despite of she need help. It was then a voice spoke to me, "my child, you have done enough. Stop trying to get her to go church. I have a plan for her. She is in good hands. Don't worry." At first, i ignored this voice and still going to look for opportunity to get her to go church. Until not one or two weeks ago, we broke up a fight. But all is well now, because I chose to listen to the voice and hand her into His hands, and even myself into His hands. So I stopped trying to get her come church. Instead, I know in my heart surely God will bring her to Christ eventually.  Recently, she started to thank God for what happened in her life. And agree when i told her, "God has never given up on you". And she told me that her Granny told her how Jesus changed her life and make her happy today. Simple things but happy. And just now, she told me that she attend a talk from a professor on Monday,  and amazingly, the professor preached about Christ, of her past and how she end up being here in NTU, and everything she shared, her past and other things related to her. And I recall to this verse,

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

True enough, all we have to do is be still and know He is God, God who bring us together, God who bring people to non-Christians so as they will know Christ. And as they see how Christ changed their lives, the same way they will say, "Yes, there is a God out there will bring meaning to life, a God who will save me, a God who will change my life," and by that, they will make a choice, to follow Christ with their lives. And His Name will be exalted among the nations and in the earth.

19 ^[a]Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” ² And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, “The king is grieving for his son.” ³ The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle. ⁴ The king covered his face and cried aloud, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”

⁵ Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. ⁶ You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. ⁷ Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.”

The whole army was celebrating until they hear that the king is mourning for His son. This really show how much King David loves His son. One more point God wants us to learn from here, that to be one with God. David's army was one with God. They weeped when He weeped. Are we in sync with God? Are we His people? If we call ourselves His people, are we in sync with Him? Or are we far away from Him? David is not always right, but God is always right. He is ALWAYS right. Which make God so awesome! God is the LORD over our lives and that is the thing that should be our center. Not anything else. The part i say David is not always right is the part of Time. There is always a time for everything. A time to rejoyce and a time to grief. This is a time to rejoyce but David grieved. Well technically he should be in between, but not really grieving and not really celebrating. Confusing phrase but its true. Howver even as Joab puts it bluntly, it is not them men who take away life. It is God who does that. No one shall claim victory without God.

Spirit of Determination and Excellence

Well, Holy Spirit kind of spoke to me today... that He want me to do my best in this police force that I somehow get into. I believe I didn't get in by coincidence or by plain luck. There is something that I have to do or God has placed me in there for a reason. Many people might dislike NS and try to "chao geng" as much as possible, but for a reason i don't want to do that. Somehow I am determined to strive my best in Police Force, and I am sure its not about the rankings, or attention. It is for something else, that particular thing that is a reason of why God place me in SPF. The same reason that unlocked a new door in my life. As much as my interest on field camp training, I have the same interest for being hmm....sort of a spy (CID) in the neighbourhood. And truly God create me, us, He placed different interests, likes and dislikes, passions in us, and each of them pretty much determines who we are now, according to His perfect plans, and prepares us for future events. Even when the road doesn't seem to go the ways we want it to be, it is going towards the way that God created it to be. God's plans and timings are perfect~