2012?

While many people on my Facebook wall are busy dying even before the Mayans predicted the end of the world by 2012 (quoting from one of my friends), how many of us are actually conscious about the Lord's 2nd coming?

Luke 21:25-28

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

I admit that often time than not, I'm more concerned about issues yet to be resolved and selfish objectives to be met than consciously reminding myself that He will be returning soon. That includes during my nightly prayers to Him before I close my eyes after beating myself up over the agendas done throughout the day!

Perhaps, subconsciously after all the drumming and influence from the movies about the countless ways how humanity will be extinct, I might had just allowed it to make me shrug off the idea that any moment, we would all be facing the Lord directly face-to-face and be held accountable for all our actions done on earth.

Now you might be thinking twice whether to continue reading on this post, but I'd like to question - why is this so?

Perhaps, we allow a lot of our friends to tell us that what we believe in is a religion. A religion to once in a while remind us that we should love another person and if you fail to do so, it's okay, we still go to Heaven.

Perhaps we allow the media to tell us that it's undeniably cool to make fun of our own religion and since no one's getting angry over it, why not cultivate this lifestyle to join in the bandwagon along with the world? (such as helplessly saying "oh my God" in vanity)

Perhaps we keep telling ourselves that we have a lot more time to seriously sit down and think about repentance and be a goodie boy/girl when we feel like it but until then .. it's better to live life the way we think it's best?

Perhaps, we have not actually believed that the Lord has conquered death and now, we ourselves are fearful of the unknown, and only want to focus on what we can see, touch and smell right now on earth?

As we enter the year 2012, TTDIGC Youth will be introducing a brand new theme, known as -

I am His and He is mine.

I cannot emphasize any further on how crucial we view and understand the faith we believe in. If I ask you that you're on a relationship with the dearest person you could ever love and have been consistently communicating to one another via skype, e-mails and facebook .. wouldn't you long for the day that you can be together, face-to-face, finally?

John 14:6

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

But Christ is more than just a lover and that's what makes our faith more beautiful and perfect than anything else in the world can offer! Christianity isn't about restricting your freedom or forcing us to live life against our will, but it's about an intimate relationship with a Heavenly Father who truly empower us to be who we're REALLY made for!

So be sure to join us to press on heavenward week by week as to eagerly seek His return as once we've encountered the love of Christ, we can only say -

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

- daryl 's u n d a e' heng

Images taken from:
http://mapawatt.com/2011/12/18/what-will-2012-have-in-store-for-energy-conservation/
http://beafreakgotohollywood.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html

Family in Prayer

As most of you know, I will be graduating soon. If you have read some of my previous blogposts, you would know that my college years have been relatively bumpy. Well to no surprise the last leg of my journey in college was bumpy as well. So this was the situation, when I returned from Singapore to continue my studies in Kuala Lumpur, I found out during the first day of class that I had to conceptualize and start up my own fashion related brand for my final assignment.

That means that after all the money my parents spent on my college fees, they now have to be investors for a business I have to create in order for me to graduate. I immediately thought that this was outrageous! I understand the fact that the best way to learn is to have hands on experience. But I really felt forced into doing something I did not want to do. Doing this was a real gamble because I felt that my parents would have to invest in something that I had no experience in doing and I feared that it would fail miserably. As usual, I was angry and bitter about everything concerning my college.

Throughout this whole situation, my parents remained very supportive. My father even told me to not worry about it and just do what I needed to do in order to graduate. Hence, I reluctantly came out with a brand concept for my assignment. Drawing inspiration from my niece and my sister-in-law, I decided that my brand will specialize in providing stylish nursing covers for mothers.

As I worked on my assignment, I was still feeling angry and honestly very worried about how I was going to accomplish creating my own brand and running a business. So I started praying and asking God to really help me with this. I even asked my Bible Study group to pray for me. Today, as I am about to complete my assignment; I can tell you that everything that has happened during these few months of working on my assignment is nothing short of divine intervention.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (NIV)

I truly experienced God’s faithfulness as to the way He turns something that started off negative into something beautiful. Many lessons have been learned through this experience and I can say that this experience has brought me closer to God. The amazing thing about this is that God sent His children to help me in completing my assignment.

Psalm 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.(NIV)

Let me start with the production of the products. I have a second cousin who is a tent maker in Cambodia and has been living there with her family for over 10 years. We rarely get a chance to meet up but amazingly we met up with her family when they visited KL in June. During that meet up, I found out that she was involved in a social enterprise in Cambodia that teaches disadvantaged women to sew so that this life-skill would help them develop meaningful careers and earn a living. I told her about my business idea and she responded by saying that they made nursing covers too and they would love to produce some for me. I was so happy and thankful. Having them make the nursing covers made creating this business so much more meaningful for me.

Besides that, from the design of the website to the buying of the web domain name God sent my friends from other churches to help me. As for the costs and numbers I had to work out for my assignment, a brother in church willingly helped me with that numerous times. Even the video that I needed to create for my assignment was produced by another brother in church. God truly answered my prayers even when I was feeling so negative about the whole situation. I would have never imagined that doing this assignment would bring me the joy of experiencing God in such a way.

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (NIV)

So, are you feeling down or angry about something today? Bring it to the Lord in prayer and you will soon realize that everything good or bad that has happened in your life happens for a reason. It would also be great if you have brothers and sisters in Christ that can support you in prayer. Trust me it makes a difference.

Matthew 18:19-20 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (NIV)

- Xin-Yi

Images are taken from:
http://www.14ushop.com/haverlock/jim-journey.html
http://inewp.com/?tag=depressed-and-angry
http://www.copticbiblestudy.org/our-fellowship

Not to be served but to serve

In Philippians 1:1 , Paul introduces both he himself as well as Timothy as servants of Christ Jesus and addresses the Philippi Church as saints.

This year, I was blessed to have gotten the chance to attend this year’s National School Christian Fellowship Leadership Camp organized by Scripture Union, where I learnt what the word saint actually meant. Saints, as Paul addressed the Philippi Church, means holy people who were set part for God’s purposes. As for servants, we are called to be servants of God, that is slaves to righteousness and not sin.

Through the said camp, I am reminded once again about how we, children of God, are actually saints and servants of Christ. In other words, our whole lives are set apart for service to God for His glory and not our own. Not forgetting the fact that we are only enabled to serve because He has placed that righteousness on us and not because of anything we’ve done or will/can ever do.

This leads us to another point, how then do we serve a God who needs nothing of us? We are to serve His people (one another).

Philippians 2:3-4 says: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”.

Then again, how often do we think about God and what He wants of us in the first place. We’re often so busy with our earthly lives that we forget what being a Christian actually is all about.

We are called to live Gospel driven lives!!

Philippians 1:12-26
Despite the rivalries and the hardships Paul faced, (being in prison and persecuted) his passion to share the Gospel never died.

Philippians 1: 12-18 This great example reminds us to not allow the difficulties nor comforts in our lives hinder us from being passionate for Christ.

Being called to live Gospel-driven lives brings forth the point that we, the Church, the body of Christ, are Gospel-partners! Therefore, it is our responsibility to work in unity and in love toward the same goal and purpose. Being accountable to one another is necessary too.

I would like to end by sharing the lyrics to the chorus of the song “Servant King”:

This is our God, the Servant King
He calls us now to follow him
To bring our lives as daily offering
Of worship to the Servant King

God bless!!!

- Allyna Goh

Images taken from:
http://blog.beba-anas.com/borak-kosong/busy-sangat-ke
http://edharewood.hubpages.com/hub/Background-on-Episitle-to-the-Philippians
http://new-wood.blogspot.com/2011/11/servant-king.html

A personal testimony – Part 1 (Laziness)

Further to my sharing on 7 Nov 2011 titled, “A personal testimony – An introduction”. I would like to say that

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5, New King James Version (NKJV) When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed— Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.

I have vowed to God to take me, break me and mould me sometime back last year and that vow remains the same until today [p.s. I must say that we have to be mindful when we sing song that goes like this as there are real costs accompanying it]

Approved In Every Way
by Ng Wah Lok

I want to be Your servant Lord,
To serve You each and every day
I want to give my best to You
Approved in every way

CHORUS:
Make my life a living sacrifice
The way you want me to be
To serve You with all my heart
Whatever the cost to me
Take me, break me, mold me, Lord
As the Potter shapes the clay
Pleasing You in all I do
Approved in every way.

I'll stand before Your righteous throne
To hear "Thou good and faithful one"
"Well done" from the Master's lips
Approved in every way.

I found that God has begun tackling my laziness issue from the day I made the vow. In actual fact, my laziness has caused me to be undisciplined, procrastinate, disorganized, complacent, forgetful, depend on others and expect to get spoon fed!

As I reflect on my life, I began to think…If only I study hard during my primary and secondary school days, I would have built a strong foundation for my tertiary education and my life. Now my life is in a mess as I have to learn many things from scratch, including managing my time.

Believe me or not, that I use reminders to help me to remember things and this has caused my brain to fail me many times when I want to remember important things.

Also, as I use more of my brain to think, instead of asking for an answer, I realized my brain has so much capacity that I never tapped it and got it rusty. In result, I have to work extra hard to rescue the situations. At the same time, I am excited that my learning curve has somewhat began, though staggering.

After admitting my sins (laziness is a sin too!) before God and seeking advice from spiritually more matured individuals, I felt God is again touching my life and has allowed me to turn a new leaf. It is exactly what 1 John 1:9, New King James Version (NKJV) says:

If we [I] confess our [my] sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our [my] sins and to cleanse us [me] from all unrighteousness.

I am thankful to God, though the breaking and moulding process was extremely painful but I know good things will come as what was said in Philippians 1:6, New King James Version (NKJV)

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you [me] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Yit Mun
a.k.a IP Man

Note: words in [] are the words I personalized in my context.

Images taken from:
http://cog-ff.com/html/Should%20You%20VOW.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1232582/Government-guarantee-mortgage-childrens-future.html
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/laziness/