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read my profile sign my guestbook Name: debs Birthday: 7/10/1985 Gender: Female Message: message meEmail: email me Member Since: 8/9/2003

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Ashamed of the gospel?

Romans 1:16 "I [Paul] am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."

Many times, we are tempted by fear to be ashamed of the gospel, i.e. the fear of rejection; the fear of making a fool of ourselves; the fear of not knowing how to respond etc. In those instances, we tend to lose sight of Romans 1:16. In explaining this verse at Bible Study 2 nights ago, Ps Ron shared with us his encounter with a salesman several years ago. It went something like this:

[Doorbell Rings]

Man: Hi! I'm checking out vacuum cleaners. May I have a look at yours?

Ron, knowing that he was a salesman: Sure.

Man takes out a clean dust bag, and puts it into Ron's vc. He marks out a square on Ron's carpet, and then vacuums that area 4 times, with Ron's vc. He then takes out the dust bag and empties the bag onto a white piece of paper. Some dust comes out onto the paper.

Man: This is what your vacuum cleaner does. Let me show you what mine does.

Man takes out his vc, and also using a clean dust bag, he vacuums over the same area just once. He does the same thing - empties his dust bag onto another white piece of paper. A little hill of black dust is emptied onto his paper.

______________

Ron used this story to explain to us Romans 1:16 and I thought the analogy was very thought-provoking.
The salesman was not ashamed of his vacuum cleaner because it was powerful, and it worked.
Similarly in Romans, Paul was not ashamed of the gospel, because it was powerful! It was mighty to save! He knew that people get saved by hearing the good news, and God works mightily in their hearts and gives faith.

The gospel is powerful! Let us not forget this verse, so that when instances of fear come along, we may overcome it and be like Paul, saying 'I am not ashamed of the gospel!'.

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Monday, October 05, 2009

The "Jesus necklace"

My hubby was off today, so we took this day to visit a friend in the afternoon.
She has a 4-yr-old daughter who is really chatty and she got really excited when she knew that guests had come.
While juggling between entertaining her and talking to her mother, she suddenly caught my attention by her very cute and innocent question: "Why are you wearing this Jesus necklace?"

It was interesting, first of all, that she had observed my necklace (of a cross) and got curious about it. But it was intriguing to me, that she asked me why I was wearing a 'Jesus necklace' rather than simply asking why I wore 'a cross'. I must admit, it stumped me at that moment! I wish I had found the words to respond to that question. Maybe it was because it's the first time someone had ever asked it to me in that way, or maybe because there were too many reasons to explain to a 4 yr old or even perhaps it was because I'd forgotten its symbolic significance to me.

Anyway, so I came home thinking about my "Jesus necklace" and its significance to me.
I got this necklace from my mother since I was 15 yrs old, and I've been wearing it ever since.
From time to time, there have been quite a number of people who have asked me the same question (in the more "normal" way) and I recall responding 5 yrs ago that the necklace is a symbolic reminder to me that I am to walk with Christ daily in devotional times and prayer. So in the past, whenever I saw the necklace on my neck in the mirror, I asked myself from time to time "have I been spending time with God?".

But I think for me now, the necklace doesn't quite symbolize that anymore. Now, I wear it for these reasons: firstly it has become something of sentimental value to me, secondly it reminds me that I am a Christian, set apart to live for Christ and thirdly it is sort-of a public declaration to people I meet that I am a Christian. (I am of the view that although some people wear such necklaces for beauty, majority of those who do actually are Christians. Of course, whether they live their lives to the glory of Christ or not, is another issue.)

Yeah so there you go... the story of my "Jesus necklace" :o)

9:41 PM - 1 view - add eprops - add comments - email it

Saturday, September 26, 2009

A glimpse into His saving grace

Titus 2: 11-14 says

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ¹²It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

God's grace is the very reason why we have salvation in Jesus Christ. We could never out-sin the grace of God, because if we could, then His grace wouldn't be a saving grace. But God's grace is so great that if we should get a little glimpse of His grace, something should prompt us regarding the way we should live and the purpose of our living. Unfortunately for many of us, we tend to fall in either of these extremes: we see how great God's grace is but don't change the way we live since His grace is free for all or we get complacent; or, we catch a glimpse of His grace and start feeling really unworthy because we get too overwhelmed by His greatness.

Being in either extreme is not good... because we tend to lose sight of why God chooses to show us a glimpse of His grace. We would either be taking for granted what He has done for us, or we would be downplaying how great His saving grace is.

Verse 12, in my opinion, is the reason why God has chosen to show us His grace upon our lives - it draws us to Him! My prayer is that God will show us more than just a glimpse of His grace, because with more knowledge of His grace comes teaching and greater insight on how to live a holy life, set apart from the ways of the world.

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Thursday, September 17, 2009

The new life

I once read a devotional about how life is like a train journey. We journey on through the different stations in life, and at each different station, people board and people alight. If my life was an actual train journey, I would say, I have just passed through an interchange. Many [people] have just gotten off my train and my train feels rather empty right now. With friends, sometimes you wish that time will stop and things will not change. But it never happens. Even if you don't change, your friends will. They move on. Some remember you, some don't - that's just the way it is and at some point in your life, you'll just have to learn to accept that. But despite all that, I find something deeply comforting - that throughout the train journey, something remains the same.. God and my family are with me from the start till the end. I think I'm pretty blessed that I've got quite a big company traveling with me on my train :) They may not be present physically, but I know they're with me.

I don't really like saying that I've got a new life, but looking at my life now - new home, new country, new "job(s)", new family, new identity, even new sleeping hours - I guess that's just what it is! It is really a 180deg change for me. Everything is different!

I'm getting used to being here now and to this new life I have.
Married life is wonderful, and I think I'm coping ok now with being alone most of the time, when my hubby's at work. Some people worry that I will get bored in no time, but to be honest, I don't feel that way at all, cuz there are lots of things I can do at home! Besides, it is perfect timing for me to seek direction, set new goals, set up a regular routine for the work at home, and to instill some good, necessary disciplines in my life.

Well, I love the new life!

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

What has happened in my life in 2 pictures, and some thoughts

Gee I haven't blogged for so long, that it took me 10 minutes just to get to this 'new weblog entry' page!
So what has happened in my life eh.. well, if a picture paints a thousand words, then let's just let 2 pictures say it all :)

This.... was my 1-yr work stint back home in the little red dot..

and this...just happened a mth ago :) the best day ever!

~~~~~

Anyway, the thought of blogging again just popped into my head today, so I thought, why not!

You see, I had a eureka moment this morning.
For the last 1 year or so, I've been in a season of dryness. For as long as I can remember, I've been praying and seeking for a deeper desire for God and His Word. It came to a point where it almost totally disappeared and I didn't know what else to ask God for. I had a deep longing for more, but nothing was driving me to work for it. Absolutely nothing, except perhaps my responsibilities at church. It's a horrifying season to be in. It feels like you're in this long tunnel with no light at all, constantly wondering when u'll even see a speck of it again. And I certainly felt like I was running around like a headless chicken.

Anyway, so I was sitting down at the cafeteria at charlies on Mon while waiting for my hubby to join me for lunch, and opened my bible to Psalm 19. And here came some light! 'The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.' (verse 7)

The devotional today brought me to Psalm 119: 9-18. It was also about meditating upon His Word. This got me thinking about Psalm 19 again. And the eureka moment came with me suddenly feeling quite silly.
For a whole year, I'd been praying and asking God for a desire for His Word, but I had not been meditating upon His Word at all. It's just like asking God to give u brilliant marks for an exam which you're not studying for - it just wasn't going to happen! The Bible does not mention that a desire for His Word comes like 'a rushing wind', in fact it says that 'the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart' and 'the commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes', and 'the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul'! So hey now I see it - my soul needs a revival for the things of God, and the only way this is going to happen, is if I read the Bible and meditate on it! I read the Bible, meditate on it, and then the desire for His Word will grow in my heart when I meditate on God's goodness, His grace, and His love for me. Eureka!

I couldn't have seen it earlier, because I had made myself too busy with life to read His Word. If I wasn't busy doing something, I certainly was busy enough just thinking about something else. So if you feel like you're stuck in a rut just like I was, I'd encourage you to just slow your life down, pick up your Bible and read it! Nothing's going to increase your desire for God and His Word if we keep getting ourselves busy.

'Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law' - Psalm 119:18
May this be your prayer today, just as it is now mine!

1:25 PM - 3 views - add eprops - add comments - email it

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