Thursday, October 13, 2011

Story of 3 candles


There are 3 candles in the figure above. If you notice, they each have different length. One is the longest, one middle length and the last, being the shortest. They each represent a phase in our lives. When we were younger, we have a longer life ahead of us, and much more wax to burn, hence, the longest candle represents a younger person. The shortest candle represent a person who is older and more seasoned in life. He may not have too long a period to life, hence this candle is the shortest. And the middle length candle represent most of us, where we are in the thriving age of energy and strength, and vision and mission and fire to live and to serve God. But if you notice, each candle burn with the same brightness. The longest candle doesnt burn brighter although it has more wax nor is the shortest candle the dimmest. The lesson is this; that each of us, whichever phase of life we are in, we all burn with the same brightness, if we are lit on. There's no such thing as because I'm younger and know less of God, I shine and contribute less. If you put any of this candle in a dark place, it will light the place up. Therefore, the encouragement is this, whichever phase of life you are in, you would burn equally bright if you are lit on. We should all strive to burn for Christ, sometimes, when we go through a rough patch of life and we feel unworthy, never feel that way because Christ has died for your sins and He has frogiven all our sins. So, in my opinion, to be unworthy of yourself is to deny what Christ has done on the cross.


In whichever ministry we are in, as long as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, we will shine. Let's not be held back by self pity or bogged down by issues of life that we forget to shine; ie putting the candle under a bowl. Who does that?! We soemtimes do. We sometimes hope that people would not recognise that we are Christians, and therefore we could pretned doing things we always do, but in doing so, we are setting our body on fire. Playing with sin means burning oneself with fire. If only you would allow the Holy Spirit to direct your life, things would be very different. We should just be quiet before the Lord, pray and be patient and let the Spirit lead because only with the presence of the Spirit in us and in our lives, our outlook will be different and others will see a shining candle.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

And so the believers..

And so the believers gave themselves to the study of the scripture, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer. (Paraphrased)

I remember how much Jaya used to stressed on this particular verse in Acts 2:42 when he spoke from the pulpit many years ago. And I often thought, why does he has to always repeat this verse? So much so that it was and still is, stuck with me. I havent been faithful in prayer meetings and bible study in church, although I do get feeding from BSF. And I couldnt see how this verse could be that..applicable in my life. I reasoned that I have other fellow brethren to fellowship with etc etc. And strangely, (I believe this is the Lord's doing), this verse came to life during camp recently. The theme for the AFC 2011 was "Issues facing Christians today; church, family, work and country" and Esther 4:14 was taken as the main verse. And when Uncle Wong took on the topic Family, I had little expectations. But he drew our attention to a picture of a tree, where it draws its nutrients and essential feeding from the ground through its roots. And it has to go deep in the ground for water and the deeper the roots go, the stronger it becomes and the better fruits it bears. And so, he compares this tree to a Christian. Our journey starts when the Sower sows the seeds and seeds that fall on good ground, grow. It gets water and essential elements from the nature and grow. Christians feed on the Word of God, taught by the Holy Spirit and grows and bear fruits. Other elements essential to us is fellowship among brethren. We cannot stay at the surface and expect to grow..we have to go deep into the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to work. This picture of a tree also represents the family of God. To root strongly, you need the encouragement and support of fellow brethren. And while listening to this, Acts 2:42 came to mind. And then, it struck me. What have I been mssing all these years? Yes, sometimes grudges can overwhelm so much that it blurred our vision to see through them but that is also allowing space to the evil one to attack. Perhaps one of the biggest lie is that we can survive on our own without being among the brethren.


And so, the believers gave themselves to the study of the Word, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer.


These 4 pillars of a Christian are something that fellow believers can only share with another fellow believer. We cannot do this with a non-believer because they would not appreciate or understand these. After all, the bible did say we are a peculiar lot.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

What Defines Me

I've been taught to pray for my future husband since young, since we started having sessions of buds unfolding or the no-entry-gardens in church. But often, I do not know what to pray or how to pray. I often asked if I should pray for a specific person or in general and hopes that he will just appear in front of me? And of course, they were not answered in the ways I had hoped them to be. To complicate matter, someone once told me that sometimes God doesnt just send a specific person. He has a few and would see how we choose. Gracious..those were my most confusing period. And i gave up praying eventually because I remember praying for someone and nothing happened. Now, how do God answer prayers like this?
I also used to think that my defining factors depend on who I marry, because ultimately, I want to be a wife and a mother. Which means, I cant live my life properly until that man comes. Looking back, that was not the desire of our Lord and no wonder He kept silent in answering me. What defines me should be Christ. Afterall, I'm a child of God first and foremost. I had always thought that my life and issues would be straighten out once I get married, because then I dont have to struggle with finding time to do God's work at church and spending time with my family. I would then have time for everything I should do as a Christian. How off-skewed is that.
No, if I struggle to find time to serve in church and finding time to spend with my family, I will still have the same problem even when I have family of my own. And I suspect it will be worse off. So, when people say Heaven begins on earth, it also means, living your Christian life begins now on earth, whether you are single or married. And God forbit I should compartmentalize my life to moments with God and moments without. This is me, and it comes in a package. God didnt just send His Son to die for my Mondays and let me live as how I want to on Tuesdays or in any other aspects of my life. Jesus died for me, the whole self and I'm called to give my life to Him, again my whole self. Never just moments or when I am of work. So, if I cant find time to serve in church now when I'm unmarried, I wont have time to serve Him when I'm married.
How then do I pray? I think one needs to be clear with the fact Jesus died for our sins and our very being. God's salvation plan is perfect and it covers all aspects of our lives. To understand that we are no masters of our own, we need to remember the story of Ruth and Boaz. When Boaz became Ruth kinsmen-redeember, she became his wife, not just a partimer. And I think in praying for our future-husbands, rather than praying a specific person to be "him", we should pray for that person. I've got a few things in my mind that perhaps I should concentrate on these.

1. Pray for his salvation. I was reminded recently, although God says we should not be unequally yoked, but our future husband may or may not be saved yet. If he is saved, pray for God's wisdom to be on him.
2. Pray for his desire/visions. Pray for him that he would have God in his mind. What are his thoughts and visions like? Does he seek to please God? Does he have dreams for the local church? Is mission is his mind?
3. Pray for his heart. That he would have a desire to trust and obey God. I think it's very important for my future husband to have a heart to obey God because he has to lead the family. I grew up in a family where my father is always the ultimate decision maker. Although he is not a Christian (yet) but since young, my mother makes it a point to discuss and let my father decides big decisions for our family. Whether if we should move, or if we should buy another house and even how we should renovate our house. My father is the architect and engineer in that respect.
4. Pray for his christian walk/ministry. The ministry he is in, does he bear fruits?

Personally, above all, I trust in God's timing. God is never late and while I'm in waiting, I should be living my life in full surrender and how God would be pleased with. Because it never changes, whether I'm married or not.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Purity

Picked this up from a sermon I heard recently.

The speaker says:
Girls, if you have not given yourself to anyone or if ever you feel pressured by your
peers, tell them this. For me to be like you, one night out there will do it. But for you to be like me, never again."

I havent heard this for a long time. I thought I knew enough about purity and importance of being pure before marriage but it's been so long since such reminder came along.