The love that never let me go

Romans 8:38-39, New King James Version (NKJV)
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Believe me or not that at some points in my life, I did consider to cease being a Christian or sort to really desperate measures in solving issues.

Facing tension from my family and personal struggles, I was seriously considering the options above but it is the love of God that held me back. Today, His love has held me close that I would not trade that for anything.

It is true of what was said by a young adult over Bible Study that fighting spiritual battle(s) over a prolonged time might cause us to lose focus. I count myself in such a situation too.

Spiritual battle is real though we can’t see it. For it is said in Daniel 10:12-13, NKJV that

Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

When I pray, sometimes it is as if it's like hitting a wall. After struggling some years with several
unsolved and even worsened issue(s), I was reminded of the above that says when we pray, God did not left it unanswered. Sometimes the delay was caused by Satan attempt to obstruct God’s doing and we just have to wait.

I must admit that I could not fully comprehend the will of God in allowing me to be placed in my family / situation but I am sure that one day I shall know just as I also am known (1 Corinthians 13:12, NKJV) and I know who holds my tomorrow.

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from it's sunshine,
For it's skies may turn to gray.

I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;

But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.
Ev'ry step is getting brighter,
As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev'ry burden's getting lighter;

Ev'ry cloud is silver lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eyes,
At the ending of the rainbow,
Where the mountains touch the sky.
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;

But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.
I don't know about tomorrow,
It may bring me poverty;

But the One Who feeds the sparrow,
Is the One Who stands by me.
And the path that be my portion,
May be through the flame or flood,
But His presence goes before me,
And I'm covered with His blood.
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;

But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

It really takes faith to continue to trust God in all circumstances. Faith = the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1, NKJV).

May you stay on course too!

This writing was inspired by Tuesday Bible Study & “beyond belief to convictions” by Josh McDowell & Bob Hostetler.

-Yit Mun

Images taken from:
http://amishamerica.com/favorite-amish-dessert/?cid=20615
http://www.bloggersbase.com/self-management/30-days-of-character-development-patience/

Beep

We live in a fast paced world. Always moving, ever changing. The emergence of technology has transformed our world, and in many ways, our lives. Information moves so quickly now. Everything is instant, from facebook to tweeter to whatsapp and even to Sms-ing. How many times have you felt frustrated when reading a long winded article? Screaming in your head "GET TO THE POINT!" often right?

Well sometimes, we let this attitude of immediacy to seep into our relationship with God. I used to pray, especially during the crossroads of my life, expecting God to answer immediately. If He did not, then it was either a no or a 'He agrees with the current decision' kind of thing. I never actually sat down, be still and seek His will. Prayer was, and sometimes now is still a 5 minute touch and go kind of thing. I actually wished God could just reveal His will to us immediately just like receiving a SMS or an email, just like hearing a beep on our phones but obviously, that's just not His standard of operation.

Life, as mentioned, is super fast paced. Going from one thing to another, life just flies by. If it's not studies, it's family. If not then it's leisure and the list goes on. Jesus, as recorded in the gospels, was also a very busy man. Crowds approached him to be healed, the Pharisees often questioned him and his disciples always looking to him to lead the ministry. Yet, Jesus took time off. He would often withdraw himself and prayed alone quietly. He spent hours seeking God's will - being still before Him.

I know how difficult it is to be still nowadays. We are so accustomed to doing something until doing nothing becomes so frustrating. God voice is often soft and unless we quieten down our minds and hearts and be still, we aren't going to hear it. There are times when God sends "beeps" in our lives but we don't want that to happen before we do the right thing. The next time your phone goes beep when you received a text, be reminded not to assume God works that way. So my challenge to you is this, can you do "nothing" for God? PEACE \/


*PS: the challenge should be read in context*

-Alex Tan

Images taken from:-
http://www.rylanclayne.com/mobile-marketing/sms-advertising-the-future-of-mobile-marketing-today
http://www.redtag.com.ph/

Do you know Me?

Exodus 3: 13-14a

“Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.”

I started to realize that this is something real, that some of the youth knows a lot about the Lord.
But do not know the Lord.

If you’re wondering what is the difference between the first and the second line, there’s a huge difference with just one word. Knowing someone and knowing about someone has the big difference of a personal relationship built.

When I was much younger at Sunday school, I experienced the exact same thing. I was told that there is a God, I am actually “forced” to sing and dance along during worship but deep down, I do not feel this God, I do not hear His voice and He is something that is totally alien to me.

But that was back then; my mind was only like a child, how could I reason? How could I possibly fathom the deep and profound truths about this God that life could get an answer from?

Then came a time when I was in form 4, life biggest issues flooding my mind. What is life all about? Why do we live in pain and suffering, injustice and the social imbalance in societies?

Why am I not as talented or as physically attractive like the most popular guy in class A? Why can’t I study as well as the my childhood friend who only tries barely half as hard?

These are things not books, computer games and television programmes could answer. It’s a void of self discovering and also discovering the totality of the world. I was no longer interested in the hows or whats, but simply whys!

And then suddenly, the knowledge of all that I’ve learned from Sunday school about this God who is so great and so Almighty came back. And I was thinking could this be, the answer I was looking for? The answer that not only answers my life, but answers life.

But I was afraid to believe in such a thing. To me, it’s stupidity, it’s blind, it’s foreign.

So I kept asking questions, questions after questions about this God. From my classmates to schoolmates to youth leaders to even elders from church! Daryl who is my twin brother has already committed his life to the Lord then, I “followed” thinking that I didn’t want to be separated from my twin brother then. Little did I realize, I hadn’t even commit my life at all. I only abided the Christian biblical principles of “Thou shall nots..”.

But I have completely no idea what God wants me to do, where He wants me to go and who must I meet.

But came one day, God spoke about something I must let go through a youth leader, and that point of time, I was with my girlfriend then but we were definitely on the wrong path because her parents were against us being together, and obviously, I was way too young and immature to start one.

I refused to listen; I refused to think that God would want that - I wanted my way. Deep down, I knew it was wrong, but I covered with so much excuses and justification, I just needed to live with conscience of me going the right path.

True enough, we ended up broken and I’ve wrecked so much damage in so many individuals. I was in a mess and my life was somewhere I thought I could never go on. I placed so much of myself in that relationship, I just don’t know how go on anymore. But the greatest thing happened, and God told me this, “while you were a sinner, I died for you.”

Romans 5:8

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

And He did, He sent my twin brother then to support me all the way through, emotionally and prayerfully. He sent many individuals to listen out to my deepest pain and suffering to keep cheering me on and again, to pray for me. And then finally, God’s voice became clear ever since that day. I knew what He wanted me to do, I knew where He wanted me to go and He has been my shepherd ever since.

Yes, I still have my arguments with Him, I wrestled with Him like how Jacob did but many are the times I also learnt to submit and remember, His ways and His thoughts are far superior and far greater than mine.

Isaiah 55:8

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.”

I want to ask you who is reading this, do you know God? Or do you know about God?

If you’re still doing things because you “should”, you may be dangerously on the line of knowing about Him. The problem about that is, you may drop out of your faith eventually because you’re not living your life for someone, you’re living your life based for your own conscience sake like I did once.

If you’re still going to church and have completely no idea why you’re doing there, please I urge you, don’t waste your time by continuing that. Ask questions, start thinking about whys, get to know Him and stop knowing about Him. Why is it that you’re suffering privately at your own home or room, or even at school and you’re wondering why this happening to you, why no one cares and then here you are at a place where people are singing to you, God cares, God cares so much that He died for you!

It is as though you’re so hungry and there’s a plate of a superbly sumptuous meal right in front of your eyes and yet, you are more bothered to whine and complain about how hungry you are than to lift your hands to start gobbling down that plate of meal!

I’m challenging you to take the leap of faith, to pray to this God that you want to live your life according to His ways, that you understand that life has no meaning if its only all about you.

Why do you think the world is such a tough place to live anyway? Because everyone thinks life is about themselves!

- Gary Heng

http://www.earthlight.org/library/vision_stmt_2005.html
http://www.fredvanlente.com/cthulhutract/
http://yourchosenpath.blogspot.com/
http://nhop.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/right-belief-clear-conscience/
http://www.bestasianfood.net/2011/06/lunch-at-food-gallery.html

REVAMP! Sort of.

After much thought and fiddling around.. I decided to go with this layout for now.

What I intended for the wooden-ish design sort of symbolizes the "tree" which is then reminds us of how all of us are rooted together in the name of Christ! :)

The blue colours would then be related to our current official logo so the page design is mainly dominated by these factors.

I hope it gives a fresh look to the whole blog.. it's nothing really drastic or flashy (flash designs is not on my league yet!) so if there is any suggestions you'd like to give, just let me or the committee members know!

Oh and yes, I've heard that some of you guys voiced out about having our official T-shirt for the youth and I agree with that too! (After seeing how the other youths had theirs during our IBA gatherings :P)

Any suggestions for that? :o


- daryl 's u n d a e' heng

Turning the Table

Often time in life, we ourselves are in helpless situations. We find ourselves struggling with piles and piles of homework, difficult or even irreconcilable relationships which leads us to a situation that is desperate and impossible.

At times like these, giving up sounds like a better option - I don’t know about you but I get that a lot simply because it is easier to stop and just let it pass.

Today I would like to share with you an example that made a lot of sense to me. I would take my reading in the story of Judges, the story of Samson.

Samson was once a Judge chosen and appointed by God to be the light of the people at that time when the Israelites were captives to the Philistines. He performed many extraordinary miracles such as killing a lion, killing 30 people just to get 30 sheets of garments, with the jawbone of a donkey he killed even 1000 people! But just like many, Samson had also a questionable lifestyle. The Book of Judges clearly mentioned he married a foreign wife, where God commanded specifically the nation of Israel not to do and he even looked for a prostitute with the name of Delilah. One good question you will ask is.. can God use someone like that? How can a Prostitute – be used by God?

As a result of all these actions, one day, Samson was betrayed by Delilah. Delilah had his hair shaved off! As we know, Samson’s strength came from his hair on his heada and with this gone, so did his powers. What appeared to be a hope of the nations soon became someone who is forced to do grinding work and adding on, Samson was blinded and taken captive. Can you imagine the humiliation? Imagine you took a bet with someone in arm wrestling and if you lost, you are to sniff their armpit, someone video tape it and put in on youtube.

Within hours the world knows of this. Try imagining, then you can have a rough picture of what Samson had undergone.

But you see, there is one thing very commendable about Samson and I also like to draw to you this. Even when Samson was blind, at the very end of his life when he was brought to temple of Dagon to perform strong man acts (basically to show of his muscles and to make fun of himself), he cried out to the LORD - "Remember Me."

He still remembered the LORD and as he placed his hands on the pillars of the temple and he pushed it, the LORD slay through him more Philistines than he has ever slained in his life. That was a great act of turnaround the LORD did in Samson’s life, from a complete slave to a complete deliverer again.

In due time, just as Samson's hair grows, God uses the circumstances in our lives to teach us and to train us that we will clearly see.
1) True faith endures time.
2) True training is difficult.
3) True Disciples Perseveres.

When the circumstances turn wrong, we ought to remember God is LORD over all and no matter how hopeless sometimes the situation can be - God can turn it for the better. Perhaps it may not the situation always but it can no doubt turn us into a better man / woman. Samson probably relied a lot on his own strength before he was blind but only when he was truly blind, he realized the only person that is capable of delivering him is the LORD. Sometimes we are blind to the fact that it is the LORD who has given us the good times but certainly it will also be the LORD, only the LORD who is able to deliver us from the bad times.

May we learn to apply this today, not to give up but rather, persist for the LORD.

Be Thou My Vision, O LORD of my heart.

-Johnson Khor

Images taken from:
http://fmyownland.blogspot.com/2011/01/helpless.html
http://rebeccamossart.blogspot.com/2011/02/samson-and-delilah.html
http://knowgodknowlove.wordpress.com/page/8/

Sincere Prayer

I think most of us pray on a daily basis, be it a prayer request or prayer of thanksgiving. We all know that prayer is a crucial part of our relationship with God. In times of trouble, we will earnestly pray and seek God and in joyful times we give thanks. But how often are our prayers insincere and filled with doubt?

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

I do not know about you but I sometimes find myself praying at night before I go to bed for the sake of praying. It has become a routine for me and I start saying the same prayer repeatedly. When things are good in my life, I find myself rarely praying sincerely which is incredibly sad because this means that I tend to take God for granted. I only come to Him when I need Him to help me with a struggle and after everything is alright I give thanks to God. Then after a while I forget what God has done for me and I start praying less.

We should be wanting to talk and pray to God from day to night. We should not only come to Him when we want something or need something. Although God does use struggles in our lives to bring us back to Him but I think as a child of God we ought to pray to Him sincerely in good times and in bad times because it is an absolute privilege that we are able to come to Him in prayer.

Besides having a prayer life that has its ups and downs, I find that sometimes I am doubtful that God will ever answer my prayer requests especially when you have a been praying for that request for some time. It is so easy for us to forget the power of our Almighty God that we think that He cannot move mountains for us. So let us be reminded again that the Lord makes all things beautiful in His time (not ours!) and have faith that He only wants what’s best for us.
Hopefully the Bible verses below will serve as an encouragement that will strengthen our prayer life.

Mark 11:22-25

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (NIV)

Matthew 7:11

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (NIV)

-Xin-Yi

Images taken from:

http://www.campusforchrist.org/alumni/prayer/
http://wallpapersweb.com/dlwall.php?image_id=24796

IBA Unplugged 2011 Review!

I know it's been a while since IBA Unplugged 2011 (actually it's just like 4 days ago?) but yup, here's the review!

Winners:

Champion - SSGC Youth: Undecided
1st Runner Up - SJGC Youth: Undignified
2nd Runner Up - SAGC Youth: The 3rd Band

Highlights!

- 5 assemblies participated this year! SSGC, SAGC, SJGC, PJGH & TTDIGC.

- God worked His wonders through the creativity of the musicians for many heart moving and edifying melodies, which ultimately glorifies His name.

- Networks between the assemblies were further strengthened and forged.

- Fantastic job on emceeing and planning for games to buy time for bands to setup.

- Great message which speaks of how our talents are useless even though having all fame and riches but having no relationship with Jesus Christ.

- Pretty much everything that summarizes the event is in the music video above! :)

credits to yun tyng from SSGC for the photo!

Personally proud of our own team - The Sessions, that despite the fact of many circumstances that came their way, they embraced it through and performed all they could on that day. TTDIGC Youth sees the best in your hearts, not in the outcome of the performance! :)

For those who still have not yet to watch the performances, click the link below to watch them in the play list!

IBA Unplugged 2011 Performances

We pray and hope that more and more great talents will come forth and create many wonderful melodies to praise our Father in Heaven.

Psalm 47:6 - Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

- daryl 's u n d a e' heng

Peer Pressure

Situations:
Your friends ask you out for mamak / movie / window-shopping while you are not prepared for the major exam tomorrow.

Your friends have the latest gadgets in town and you don’t.

Your classmates were all attending prom night and yanking about it but only you have not registered for it.

The list can go on & on…

Sounds familiar?

If you have faced or facing such situation(s), how have you responded?
Will you give in to the temptation or say “no” as it does not please the Lord? The Bible says:

For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ. (Galatians 1: 10, New King James Version)

Without exception, I too experience many peer pressures but by the Grace of
God, I managed to overcome most of them. However, as now I am at a low point of my
spiritual life, I found that I am trapped by one of the incident which previously, does not affect me.

In a recent gathering at my best friend’s daughter birthday party, I was being asked to share a gift for my best friend while I have already prepared some gifts for her baby girl. Seeing everyone was chipping in, my heart was also puzzled whether or not to share with them. Under pressure, I agreed to pay and it is really the most expensive present I have ever bought/share. Seriously, this has caught me off guard as I did not consider that they are all well-to-do and from professional bodies while I was tied down with many responsibilities with a fixed income. In a way, I also conformed to the standards and protocols set by men and did not heed God’s advice in Romans 12:1-2, New King James Version

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

After the event, I regretted as I personally struggle with the financial state that I am now in and found that God wanting to teach me a lesson. It is my hope that in your own circumstances like this, you would also ponder and allow God to speak to you, no matter how urgent the circumstances may be and do not repeat the same mistake I did.

On another note, also be alert that if your so-called “friends” directly or indirectly caused you to play truant, cheat at exams, vandalize, smoke etc.


In Him,
Yit Mun, a.k.a. IP Man :D

Images taken from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2008/mar/26/catchofthedayhellisother
http://pastorrobbadger.com/category/life-lessons/