Children of God

More room for...?

2011-01-06T07:11:00.000+08:00

Taken from somewhere: God-talk - There Is Still More Room

Tell me, is a man/woman thing about packing a car or, come to think of it, packing a dishwasher. There are not many practical areas in which I choose some superiority over my wife and this is due to laziness as well as incompetence... but, come the car to be packed or the dishwasher filled then I'm the man.

There's something really glorious about shouting the news, "There's still more room".

Imagine then the joy of the servant who told his master (Luke 14:23) that there was still more room even when "the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame" had been brought in from the streets.

Perhaps the early days of January are attractive for us because we look at days and months ahead and we feel "thank God, there's more room" for our tasks, ambitions, plans and hopes. But the joy and gift of the spiritual life is that "there's more room" in each and every day and in all the hopes and challenges even the challenges of seemingly irreconciliable differences.

And, praise God, for you and me in the heart of God "there is always more room".

We want pcs and macs, we want ipods et al to have more room, more room, more room... as always God has got there first!

Ushering 2011

2011-01-06T06:33:00.004+08:00

For me, a new year has always been another year and nothing else. I've stopped making resolutions because they turned out to be the same every year. There's never gonna be a perfect year.

However, I have begun to see the coming of this year in a different light. I guess when you are in Christ and doing His work, you cannot help but be full of hope and excitement for the future. No doubt, there will be bits of fear but it will only serve to humble us and cause us to rely on God more & more. Well, certainly things may not be how you want it to be but every moment of your life is perfectly planned for you by God.

You may see the future as difficult, full of uncertainty but know that God is with you and for you. My life with God in the beginning had not been smooth-sailing but Sunday's sermon gave me insight about the hard times I had struggling to know Him. I believe that God gave us every trial for a purpose. And for me, I realised that that initial struggle bore in me that deep desire to walk with Him all the days of my life. And it is also this struggle that gave me the deep desire to do His will for such a time like this.
Upon receiving this revelation, I asked myself, "Would I trade places with someone else?" My answer is no. When you are in a difficult situation, you will lament. But after you have been through the refiner's fire, you will emerge stronger than before. For this new year, give thanks for 2010 and ask God to make you specific resolution for 2011! One of my goal for 2011 is to see 2 friends come to know the Lord.

where were you?

2010-11-14T02:40:00.004+08:00

One of the first things that I noticed when I first joined FCBC is the songs that are sang during worship. I've never heard of most, if not all, of the songs prior to that and I really enjoy singing those songs. After some time however, I began to feel uncomfortable with some of the songs as I find the lyrics containing statements that are too strong like "Take it all". As someone with strong intrapersonal intelligence, I didn't want so sing such lines because I knew if God really take it all, I will not just be unhappy, I will seriously doubt if He is really good to me. As I walk closer with Him, I feel more comfortable with songs like these but sometimes I still fear proclaiming things to God that I am not willing to accept or do.

I've a friend who is a pre-believer and she reads books that supports her thinking that religion is for the weak and even loaned my one of these books but surprisingly she enjoys some of Hillsong's songs. She likes the tune and the melody but she does nor believe not agree with the lyrics. We can be deluded into thinking that singing lies is acceptable to God, we sing loudly "take take take it all" and give nothing when it's time to give of our time, money and talents instead we keep it all.

Picture a man whose wife is dying and in her distress sends him calls to ask for help but he didn't pick up the phone because he was at a KTV lounge happily singing with his friends, and the noise drowns out the distress calls sent by his wife. Later, he saw the missed calls but decided to wait till the session ended before responding. Hours later, the wife died while waiting for her husband to come to her rescue.
This incident was later found out by the mother-in-law and she asked "where were you when your wife was dying?" and he couldn't give a reply. When souls are perishing and the opportunity to pray for others come, where are we? Even if the song that the man was singing at the KTV lounge was "How Great is our God" would that have pleased God?

I love Singapore Walk 2010

2010-11-13T12:43:00.004+08:00

Praise God for the fine weather. I love Singapore not just for today but today I declare it afresh.

Devotion at West Coast Park

2010-11-05T21:16:00.003+08:00

Praise God for giving us a wondeful morning at West Coast Park to worship Him and to encourage and build up one another through the sharing of His Word.

The word released today is:

God is in control
Psalm 91

May we claim God's promises for our lives for He who promise is faithful.

The Substance of Prayer

2010-10-08T01:50:00.010+08:00

Do we persevere in prayers because God is reluctant to answer them and thus we will have to seek His blessings through repetitive prayers spread over several days, with begging and tears? If this is not the case, then why are there times when we have to go through a season of intense prayer while waiting for our prayers to be answered?

There are several possible reasons for this:
1) God can be using this period of waiting to mould our character and while we persevere in our prayers, we develop the fruit of patience and faithfulness.
2) The period of waiting can also increase our faith so that we may know that it is God and not our own works that accomplishes things.
3)In the spiritual realm, there are things unseen and unknown to us
e.g. In Daniel 10:13, it is revealed to us that God answered Daniel's prayers and sent an angel to bring Daniel the message but the angel was stopped by the devil for 21 days before he could bring the message to Daniel.
Our prayers can change things in the spiritual realm in ways we cannot understand so we must pray until we see things move in the natural realm and this is related to this concept called the substance of prayer.
The substance of prayer is the concept that our prayers can release the power of Holy Spirit from us to do great things! Consider the following verses:

Revelation 5:8
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Revelation 8:3-5
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Our prayers are akin to the incense that is added to the golden bowl, the more we pray, the more quickly the bowl will be filled and when the bowl is full, great things happen! Therefore, we will not lose heart in praying but let us be encouraged to pray unceasingly!

-Short sharing from Dutch Sheets "Intercessory Prayer"

Lord, I want to hear you by Donna Mitchell

2010-09-22T12:50:00.002+08:00

Hey, I read this online and found it really helpful for me and I believe some of you are struggling with hearing and knowing God's will for your life. So here it is:

I’ll call her Jane. Jane is a new believer. We meet Monday evenings in prison. She is being transformed by God right before our eyes and weekly speaks the most profound truths. Last week was no exception. Jane looked at us and said “you know how you say the Lord continually whispers and speaks to us”? Well He is showing me that when I am completely surrendered to Him, I can hear Him whisper, but when I take back control I don’t hear Him.”

Profound. True. There are many of us who have been walking with the Lord for years and we have forgotten or have not realized this simple truth.
Like Jane, I want to be fully surrendered moment by moment. I don’t want to resist or rebel against the Lord. I wrote in my journal “LORD, I want to co-operate. I want to surrender to Your will, Your assignment, Your conditions, Your timing, Your opportunities and design…LORD to the best of my ability, I surrender myself to You. Please help me flourish moment by moment, accepting the grace You give.”

I remember being in Bible College when a student asked the professor “how do you know God’s will?” The Professor pondered the question for a few moments and then responded, “If you want God’s will with all of your heart, He won’t let you miss it.”

We often want to hear specific direction from the Lord. We cry out for clarity. Maybe surrender is the prerequisite – wanting God’s will above our own regardless of the cost. He won’t let us miss it. The night Jesus made the choice to go to the cross for us, He cried out to His Father in Luke 23:42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” In the quietness of surrender, God’s whisper is impossible to miss.

Write out or cry out your own prayer of surrender in the midst of where you are walking today.

Questions: What keeps you from crying out, “not my will, but Your will be done?” Ask the Lord to search your heart and bring you to a place of complete surrender and deeper trust.

Cell Mission

2010-09-02T23:19:00.005+08:00

9 characteristics to cultivating a successful community
- taken from The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren (Chpt 18 & 19)

1) authenicity
Be Real - True community does not have superficial fellowship.
2) mutuality
Be dependent on one another - Learn the art of giving and receiving by building reciprocal relationships.
3) sympathy
Be understanding - Quick to listen and slow to speak.
4) mercy
Be forgiving - Never hold grudges because the Lord first forgave us.
5) honesty
Be honest - Speak the truth in love.
6) humility
Be humble - Focus on serving others.
7) courtesy
Be considerate - Respect one another's differences.
8) confidentiality
Do not gossip - What is shared in the group needs to stay in the group.
9) frequency
Make regular contact - Deep fellowship takes time.

Let's familiarise ourselves with this 9 characteristics(refer to it from time to time) and make it our mission for cell development. When the cell grows, the individual benefits.

New layout!

2010-09-02T00:59:00.000+08:00

Thank you Pearlyn for the new blog skin!

Excellent Christian Literature

2010-07-19T16:23:00.000+08:00

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/

This site contains a wealth of articles that are useful for Christian growth and how to be effective for the Lord.

Does God Exist?

2010-02-13T22:46:00.004+08:00

More than that, does he love us? Does he care?
At some point in our lives, this qustion will carry a heavy weight in our heart, usually at the time when our lives are already overburdened with failures, disappointments and worries. Jesus said "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Who is Jesus? A "Christian" God? One of the gods?
Come and find out more and grab the opportunity to explore the meaning of life at the alpha course.

Alpha
What: Alpha is an 11-week course that aims to explore the meaning of life and the christian faith.
Where: PhillipCapital Auditorium, Raffles City Tower (6th Floor)
When: Feb 26 (Fri), 6.30pm (Premier session)
How: email us Dieucoeur@gmail.com

Note: This event is organised by FCBC. For further enquiries, you can write to info@fcbc.org.sg

More than Words

2009-10-12T22:47:00.001+08:00

He died for us, we live for Him

Press On Warriors!

2009-09-29T17:33:00.004+08:00

Day after day, night after night, the weeks pass by silently and uneventfully. The rhythm of life did not change yet there's a sense of lethargicness that hangs over us. Maybe we're just tired trying to be in sync with the pace of the world. Whatever the reason may be, let us press on to the higher goal that God has called us to- to live our life as an offering of praise to God.
There're days when we are just tired, but let us not lose heart, for all these shall pass away.
Like what Pastor Mevlyn preached last Sunday, it's not our love for God that sustains us, rather it's His love us that keeps us going.

May the unfailing love of God satisfies us every morning. :)

The Dead Sea Scrolls

2009-09-02T12:12:00.002+08:00

Anybody interested to go to the Arts House for The Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition (27Aug-27Sept)?

It is an exhibition of 100 artifacts spanning 5000 years of civilisation, looking specifically at biblical manuscripts and the evolution of bible translation.

Here is the website: http://www.livinglegacy2009.com/

Here in His Presence

2009-08-10T21:56:00.001+08:00

A new day is dawning! School starts tomorrow for Hui Yan, Peilin, Sabrina and Qinglin. As we continue to embark on our journey, let the grace and goodness of the Lord be our forever comfort and strength.

The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Exodus 33:14

God's grace in the midst of our sufferings

2009-08-09T22:31:00.000+08:00

God feels and knows every fear, anxiety, anguish, confusion and torment you go through.
God cries when you cry. God hears every prayer you cry out to Him. He lists down every single prayer you say to Him.

But in the midst of trials and sufferings, sometimes it's hard to feel God's love for you.

I have been there. I have seen my friend been there.

It's hard. "Where's God? I need His help."

We cannot understand. We cannot see His way and will for us. We cry out to Him.

No one understands you and what you are going through. But God does. He is there for you. He is always there for you. He works in ways we can't see.

God never intends for us to suffering. It pains Him to see His children suffer and cry. We chose to suffer.
Yes, human have a heart, we feel, therefore we feel hurt and pain too. But God knows our hurt and pains. He feels it, together with us.

But we have a choice. We can choose to rest in God. To trust in Him. To lean not on your own understanding but on His understanding. To struggle no more but rest in His peace. To let go and surrender all your issues and problems to Him. He can move the mountains, but we can't. He is the change, let Him change and touch your life. You will marvel at His glory. He is always good.

Then comes patience. You wait. He will not delay in His coming. At the right time, He will come. Surely.

God knows our weaknesses. He sends people to strengthen, encourage and comfort us. I always find people with the gift of prophesy a blessing. How healing the word of God brings! How precious is the Word in those crucial and trying moments! Supernaturally, people anointed by God will deliver the exact right words to me, strengthening, encouraging and comforting me. How did these people know? They don't know. Sometimes they don't even know the significance of the Word they are passing forth. But God knows. God uses these people to speak to you.

May we ourselves strive to be a blessing to others. 1 Corinthians 14 "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophesy....everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort."

LoveSingapore09

2009-08-08T01:54:00.003+08:00

Hey ladies!
Lets pledge the significant moment at 8.22pm on 9th August, Sunday!

after all, we are: Happy National Day ladies!

Photos

2009-08-03T16:32:00.003+08:00

Genesis: Inthe beginning...

2009-08-03T00:41:00.006+08:00

God created Adam and Eve. Years went by in a twinkle of an eye for with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. From Adam and Eve came their descendants from all nations and tribes who came together to create this place where they can worship their Lord together-forever.

Sophia
A native Asian who grew up in Australia. As a result of her mixed heritage, she speaks flawless, accentless English that leaves everyone perplexed about her background. Currently teaching flawless and accentless English in a secondary school, she helps put an end to the highly contentious issue on which country's accent is the best.
Hui Yan
This brilliant and gung-ho 21-year-old is related by blood to the world renowned physicist, Albert Einstein, with the exact connection between them being a mystery. Talented in Physics and Mathematics, she has made significant contributions to the scientific world by her enquiries of the world. Though no answers came forth with those questions, her questions have set millions thinking and pondering, and precisely because an answer cannot be found, her questions will themselves become a legacy even for the generations to come.
Peilin
A Singaporean-French polyglot, she counts English, Mandarin, Hokkien and French as some of the languages that she has command of. The exact number of languages that she is able to speak is probably a lot more but is difficult to determine due to her humble and considerate nature- not wanting to cause those who are already struggling with one language to go into depression.
Sabrina
A Korean-Chinese, Sabrina speaks perfect Korean, Mandarin and any other languages whose phonetic systems fall in between. In her freetime, Sabrina enjoys doing a host of things from cooking Kimchi to conducting psychology experiments. Due to her diverse talents, she is highly sought after by headhunters around the world and is featured in the latest edition of abnormal psychology textbook by Yufang. S due to the abnormally high number of skills that she possess. Habitually quiet, Sabrina does not speak unnecessarily, and when she does speak, every word that she says is carefully weighted and measured, always to the crux of the issue, an ever fascination to many.
Qinglin
A 19-year-old who is small in size but great in faith, Qinglin endears herself to children and adults alike. Always putting others before herself, she excels in teamwork and is currently the managing director of Fuji-Apple the Japanese-American company that specializes in selling manga-pod which is an all in one applicance that allows people to type, print, fax and scan papers no bigger than the size of a champanzee palm.
Pearlyn
Pearlyn Khoo. An interior cum fashion designer, Pearlyn is indeed the epitome of cool. Currently holding many titles and posts to her name, Pearlyn gives out name cards the size of an A4 paper which further points to her creative and innovative nature. With her boundless and fertile imagination, Pearlyn is constantly inspired by the things around her, to the point where she is hardly able to rest for there're just too many ideas floating around her head-without and within.
Rachel
An effective bilingual, Rachel, as her surname might have already suggested, is a Singaporean. Idealistic and ambitious, Rachel's greatest dream is to build a democratic world based on justice and equality. Though tender in age, Rachel has a wisdom far beyond that of her age as evident from her attempt to transform the world by first transforming herself, a feat so inspiring that it would have reduced even Socrates to tears.
Siying
A warrior of Jewish descent, she conquers everything that can be conquered, even her faith. While tough on the exterior, she is tender and compassionate to the lost and needy. Reliable and trustworthy, Siying's friends outnumbered even the grains of sand.