Corporate Prayer

"May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; may the name of the God of Jacob defend you; may He sane you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion." - Psalm 20:1-2

Beloved saints of the living God, let us always have the attitude of prayer in sincerity of faith to seek for everything in our lives. Remember as God of the Omniscient has spoken, this year would be another year of supernatural encounters and divine visitations, a year of natural disasters, disappointments / sorrow and disheartening events. We must not be lax but be watchful in order to stand in the gap. Therefore, we must always consider the following for our corporate prayers:

Praise God for all answered prayers from the beginning of this year to the end.
Sing praises to God for His long-suffering with us.
Worship God for His infinite wisdom.

Now Pray for The Following:

1. More victory in your personal life
2. Success in your evangelistic and soul winning efforts
3. Salvation for unsaved ones.
4. Spirit of prayer and burden-bearing to come upon you
5. Ability to pray without ceasing especially in tongues.
6. Grace to pray until your joy is full.
7. Church readiness for the rapture that can happen anytime and unexpectedly.
8. Deliverance from evil works.
9. God's protection upon your children.
10. Journey mercies for travelers.
11. Increase in the spread of righteousness in the entire nation.
12. Grace to forgive offences and offenders.
13. Good health for the family.
14. Grace to please God in everything.
15. Maturity in understanding others.
16. Needs to met in all families.
17. Protection from all false doctrines.
18. More insight and revelation in the Word of God.
19. Victory over inexplicable trials and temptations.
20. Victory over youthful lusts.
21. More love amongst all breathren.
22. Purity of heart.
23. Pray for those in authority.

Then Pray Against the Following:

1. Walking in the counsel of the ungodly.
2. Laying false accusations on the innocent.
3. Luke-warmness.
4. Backsliding.
5. Compromise and adulteration of the Word of God.
6. Sharing the fate of the foolish virgins.

Beloved, begin the journey of prayer now!

- Daniel O.C

ON THE ANVIL

by Max Lucado

With a strong forearm, the apron-clad blacksmith puts his tongs into the fire, grasps the heated metal, and places it on the anvil. His keen eye examines the glowing piece. He sees what the tool is now and envisions what he wants it to be—sharper, flatter, wider, longer. With a clear picture in his mind, he begins to pound. His left hand still clutching the hot mass with the tongs, his right hand slams the two-pound sledge upon the moldable metal.

On the solid anvil, the smoldering iron is remolded.

The smith knows the type of instrument he wants. He knows the size. He knows the shape. He knows the strength.

Whang! Whang! The hammer slams. The shop rings with the noise, the air fills with smoke, and the softened metal responds.

But the response doesn’t come easily. It doesn’t come without discomfort. To melt down the old and recast it as new is a disrupting process. Yet the metal remains on the anvil, allowing the toolmaker to remove the scars, repair the cracks, refill the voids, and purge the impurities.

And with time, a change occurs: What was dull becomes sharpened, what was crooked becomes straight, what was weak becomes strong, and what was useless becomes valuable.

Then the blacksmith stops. He ceases his pounding and sets down his hammer. With a strong left arm, he lifts the tongs until the freshly molded metal is at eye level. In the still silence, he examines the smoking tool. The incandescent implement is rotated and examined for any mars or cracks.

There are none.

Now the smith enters the final stage of his task. He plunges the smoldering instrument into a nearby bucket of water. With a hiss and a rush of steam, the metal immediately begins to harden. The heat surrenders to the onslaught of cool water, and the pliable, soft mineral becomes an unbending useful tool.

“For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
(I Peter 1:6-7)

From On the Anvil:
Stories On Being Shaped Into God’s Image

The Power of Prayer (3)

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." - James 14:12

Possible Causes of Sickness
Continual affliction can result in sickness through worry and anxiety, self-piety, depression, loss of appetite, the fear of man and the cares of life. "Is anyone among you sick ? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:14-16)

Sin, could cause sickness too. Many a time, sin and sickness go together. But thank God for the privilege of the prayers for pardon, forgiveness and healing (Psalm 107:17-18,20 / Deuteronomy 28:58-60) There is usually a connection between health and holiness.

In 2 Samuel 12:9,14-15, the sin of the parents was responsible for the child's sickness. There is a need for self-examination whenever there is sickness. Sin brings sickness (2 Chronicles 21:5-6, 14-15). To come out of sin, recognise that sin and deal with it through repentance, before dealing with sickness through the power of divine healing.

Power of Inner Healing
God answers prayer. Maintaining sincerity to God's word ensure the answers to your prayer. Are you sick or bed-ridden ? Then call upon the elders of the church (James 5:16). The righteous man or woman as you know that our righteousness is in Christ Jesus, not self-righteousness which like a filthy rag.

When you pray, believe God for healing, no matter who the righteous man or woman is. As long as it is prayer of agreement, a prayer of authority and faith based on the precious promises of God's word, there will be positive results.

God's promise to the sick is a touch of healing (Matthew 8:16-17). God forgives us our sins and takes away our sickness (Isaiah 53:5). In Matthew 10:1, Jesus gave the same authority unto His disciples which He gives to His children today. As you pray, believe the Lord and you will be even an instrument of healing that will bless others. God has been faithful in times past and He remains faithful today, for He never changes (1 Thessalonians 5:24 / Malachi 3:6). He has given His power and the name of Jesus to every believer. You can pray with signs following (Mark 16:17 / Luke 10:17 ,19 / John 14:12). God's promises are to you directly. If you believe the Lord, you can pray for yourself and be healed if you are sick or afflicted now.

Your spouse can pray for you and you can receive your needed miracle. You can be prayed for by your child too or a member of your local church, your pastor, elder or leader. Know your rights and benefits in Christ Jesus and claim them (John 14:12 / James 5:15).

It is not the oil that heals but the prayer of faith of the saint. The oil is just a symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God who already dwells in you.

- Daniel O.C

HE UNDERSTANDS

by Max Lucado

Cries of loneliness. Tune out the traffic and turn down the TV. The cry is there. You can hear their cries. You can hear them in the convalescent home among the sighs and the shuffling feet. You can hear them in the prisons among the moans of shame and the calls for mercy. You can hear them if you walk the manicured streets of suburban America, among the aborted ambitions and aging homecoming queens. Listen for it in the halls of our high schools where peer pressure weeds out the “have-nots” from the “haves.”

Many of you have been spared this cruel cry. Oh, you have been homesick or upset a time or two. But despair? Far from it. Suicide? Of course not. Be thankful that it hasn’t knocked on your door. Pray that it never will. If you have yet to fight this battle, you are welcome to read on if you wish, but I’m really writing to someone else.

I am writing to those who know this cry firsthand. I’m writing to those of you whose days are bookended with broken hearts and long evenings. I’m writing to those of you who can find a lonely person simply by looking in the mirror.

For you, loneliness is a way of life. The sleepless nights. The lonely bed. The distrust. The fear of tomorrow. The unending hurt.

When did it begin? In your childhood? At the divorce? At retirement? At the cemetery? When the kids left home?

Maybe you have fooled everyone. No one knows that you are lonely. On the outside you are packaged perfectly. Your smile is quick. Your job is stable. Your clothes are sharp. Your waist is thin. Your calendar is full. Your walk brisk. Your talk impressive. But when you look in the mirror, you fool no one. When you are alone, the duplicity ceases and the pain surfaces.

Or maybe you don’t try to hide it. Maybe you have always been outside the circle looking in, and everyone knows it. Your conversation is a bit awkward. Your companionship is seldom requested. Your clothes are dull. Your looks are common. Ziggy is your hero and Charlie Brown is your mentor.

Am I striking a chord? If I am, if you have nodded or sighed in understanding, I have an important message for you.

The most gut-wrenching cry of loneliness in history came not from a prisoner or a widow or a patient. It came from a hill, from a cross, from a Messiah.

“My God, my God,” he screamed, “why did you abandon me!” (Matthew 27:46)

Never have words carried so much hurt. Never has one being been so lonely.

Out of the silent sky come the words screamed by all who walk in the desert of loneliness. “Why? Why did you abandon me?”

I keep thinking of all the people who cast despairing eyes toward the dark heavens and cry “Why?”

And I imagine him. I imagine him listening. I picture his eyes misting and a pierced hand brushing away a tear. And although he may offer no answer, although he may solve no dilemma, although the question may freeze painfully in midair, he who also was once alone, understands.

From No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
© (W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado

The Power of Prayer (2)

Is anyone among you suffering ? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful ? Let him sing psalms. - James 5:13.

The book of James is a very practical book which addresses the peculiarities and needs of the reader.

Prayer for Deliverance from Afflictions.
"Is anyone among you suffering ? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful ? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick ? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord" (James 5:13-14)

The oppressed and those who have been scattered abroad are told what steps to take in such situations. Are you suffering, afflicted and tormented ? You may be facing some difficulties or perhaps you are held down by the trails of life. Do you think about what you should do ? Pray! You must pray. The human nature groans and cries when afflicted, but believers are commanded to pray during times of affliction.

Affliction could be in the form of injustice, hatred by in-laws or neighbours. It could be oppression by taskmasters, family problems, persecution, hunger, personal attack by others etc. Unbelievers grumble and complain, while the faithless cry, panic, give up the faith, stop serving God and give in to discouragement. However, the faithful believer is to pray during such afflictions. James 5:13 tells us what to do when afflicted as a believer. We are not to run immediately to people but to tackle the problem, unless the situation is beyond us (verse 14). In Psalm 102:1,4, the psalmist wrote, "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to you. My heart is stricken and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread." The believer is expected to pray. Affliction could be likened to unfaithfulness from one's spouse, which bring insult and shame as a result of unfulfilled marriage vows. It could also come through the manipulation of servants or maids to inflict pains and sorrow on you. It could also be lies told against you as a result of envy and jealousy either at your place of work or from your family members or in-laws. It could be a burden from your boss (Genesis 31:50/Provers 26:28/Exodus 1:11). When all these and much more happens, you are to pray the prayer of faith, believing the Almighty God for His supernatural intervention.

The children of Israel prayed and God answered them. "But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labour and our oppression. So the Lord brough us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders" (Deuteronomy 26:6-8).

God will answer you too as you pray (James 5:13). There is nothing strange about your affliction. It has happened to some others, yet our gracious God delivered them. Most assuredly the Ancient of Days, the great Delivere will deliver us from all our afflictions in Jesus' name. Amen.

Godly wisdom cannot be found in text books
or in the accumulation of degrees
But from the source of all wisdom, The Lord.

- Daniel O.C.

THE DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING

by Max Lucado

Anger. It’s a peculiar yet predictable emotion. It begins as a drop of water. An irritant. A frustration. Nothing big, just an aggravation. Someone gets your parking place. Someone pulls in front of you on the freeway. A waitress is slow and you are in a hurry. The toast burns. Drops of water. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Yet, get enough of these seemingly innocent drops of anger and before long you’ve got a bucket full of rage. Walking revenge. Blind bitterness. Unharnessed hatred. We trust no one and bare our teeth at anyone who gets near. We become walking time bombs that, given just the right tension and fear, could explode.

Yet, what do we do? We can’t deny that our anger exists. How do we harness it? A good option is found in Luke 23:34. Here, Jesus speaks about the mob that killed him. “‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’”

Look carefully. It’s as if Jesus considered this bloodthirsty, death-hungry crowd not as murderers, but as victims. It’s as if he saw in their faces not hatred but confusion. It’s as if he regarded them not as a militant mob but, as he put it, as “sheep without a shepherd.”

“They don’t know what they are doing.”

And when you think about it, they didn’t. They hadn’t the faintest idea what they were doing. They were a stir-crazy mob, mad at something they couldn’t see so they took it out on, of all people, God. But they didn’t know what they were doing.

And for the most part, neither do we. We are still, as much as we hate to admit it, shepherdless sheep. All we know is that we were born out of one eternity and are frighteningly close to another. We play tag with the fuzzy realities of death and pain. We can’t answer our own questions about love and hurt. We can’t solve the riddle of aging. We don’t know how to heal our own bodies or get along with our own mates. We can’t keep ourselves out of war. We can’t even keep ourselves fed.

Paul spoke for humanity when he confessed, “I do not know what I am doing.” (Romans 7:15, author’s paraphrase.)

Now, I know that doesn’t justify anything. That doesn’t justify hit-and-run drivers or kiddie-porn peddlers or heroin dealers. But it does help explain why they do the miserable things they do.

My point is this: Uncontrolled anger won’t better our world, but sympathetic understanding will. Once we see the world and ourselves for what we are, we can help. Once we understand ourselves we begin to operate not from a posture of anger but of compassion and concern. We look at the world not with bitter frowns but with extended hands. We realize that the lights are out and a lot of people are stumbling in the darkness. So we light candles.

From No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
© (W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado

THUMP.. THUD.. THUMP.. THUD..

by Max Lucado

When a potter bakes a pot, he checks its solidity by pulling it out of the oven and thumping it. If it “sings,” it’s ready. If it “thuds,” it’s placed back in the oven.

The character of a person is also checked by thumping.

Been thumped lately?

Late-night phone calls. Grouchy teacher. Grumpy moms. Burnt meals. Flat tires. You’ve-got-to-be-kidding deadlines. Those are thumps. Thumps are those irritating inconveniences that trigger the worst in us. They catch us off guard. Flat-footed. They aren’t big enough to be crises, but if you get enough of them, watch out! Traffic jams. Long lines. Empty mailboxes. Dirty clothes on the floor. Even as I write this, I’m being thumped. Because of interruptions, it has taken me almost two hours to write these two paragraphs. Thump. Thump. Thump.

How do I respond? Do I sing, or do I thud?

Jesus said that out of the nature of the heart a man speaks (Luke 6:45). There’s nothing like a good thump to reveal the nature of a heart. The true character of a person is seen not in momentary heroics but in the thump-packed humdrum of day-to-day living.

If you have a tendency to thud more than you sing, take heart.

There is hope for us “thudders”:

Begin by thanking God for thumps. I don’t mean a half-hearted thank-you. I mean a rejoicing, jumping-for-joy thank-you from the bottom of your heart (James 1:2). Chances are that God is doing the thumping. And he’s doing it for your own good. So every thump is a reminder that God is molding you (Hebrews 12:5-8).

Learn from each thump. Face up to the fact that you are not “thump-proof.” You are going to be tested from now on. You might as well learn from the thumps—you can’t avoid them. Look upon each inconvenience as an opportunity to develop patience and persistence. Each thump will help you or hurt you, depending on how you use it.

Be aware of “thump-slump” times. Know your pressure periods. For me, Mondays are infamous for causing thump-slumps. Fridays can be just as bad. For all of us, there are times during the week when we can anticipate an unusual amount of thumping. The best way to handle thump-slump times? Head on. Bolster yourself with extra prayer, and don’t give up.

Remember no thump is disastrous. All thumps work for good if we are loving and obeying God.

From On the Anvil:
Stories On Being Shaped Into God’s Image

This is a new edition of Max’s first book.
It contains an updated forward, written by him, as well as thoughtful questions for each chapter.

© (Tyndale House, 1985, 2008) Max Lucado

ANVIL TIME

by Max Lucado

On God’s anvil. Perhaps you’ve been there.

Melted down. Formless. Undone. Placed on the anvil for…reshaping? (A few rough edges too many.) Discipline? (A good father disciplines.) Testing? (Buy why so hard?)

I know. I’ve been on it. It’s rough. It’s a spiritual slump, a famine. The fire goes out. Although the fire may flame for a moment, it soon disappears. We drift downward. Downward into the foggy valley of question, the misty lowland of discouragement. Motivation wanes. Desire is distant. Responsibilities are depressing.

Passion? It slips out the door.
Enthusiasm? Are you kidding?
Anvil time.

It can be caused by a death, a breakup, going broke, going prayerless. The light switch is flipped off and the room darkens. “All the thoughtful words of help and hope have all been nicely said. But I’m still hurting, wondering…..”

On the anvil.

Brought face to face with God out of the utter realization that we have nowhere else to go. Jesus in the garden. Peter with a tear-streaked face. David after Bathsheba. Elijah and the “still, small voice.” Paul, blind in Damascus.

Pound, pound, pound.

I hope you’re not on the anvil. (Unless you need to be, and if so, I hope you are.) Anvil time is not to be avoided; it’s to be experienced. Although the tunnel is dark, it does go through the mountain. Anvil time reminds us of who we are and who God is. We shouldn’t try to escape it. To escape it could be to escape God.

God sees our life from beginning to end. He may lead us through a storm at age thirty so we can endure a hurricane at age sixty. An instrument is useful only if it’s in the right shape. A dull ax or bent screwdriver needs attention, and so do we. A good blacksmith keeps his tools in shape. So does God.

Should God place you on his anvil, be thankful. It means he thinks you’re still worth reshaping.

From On the Anvil:
Stories On Being Shaped Into God’s Image

This is a new edition of Max’s first book.
It contains an updated forward, written by him, as well as thoughtful questions for each chapter.

© (Tyndale House, 1985, 2008) Max Lucado

The Power of Prayer (1)

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. - James 1:6.

In James 5:13-18 we read:
13 Is anyone among you suffering ? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful ? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone among you sick ? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

This is a very interesting and profitable passage of the holy Scripture. This passage talks solely about prayer. It mentions prayer in every verse.

13 Is anyone among you .. ? Let him pray
14 Is anyone among you sick ? ... Let him pray
15 And the prayer ...
16 .. and pray for ...
17 ... and he prayed ...
18 And he prayed again ...

It is also worth noting that it is addressed to the sick, the afflicted and the spiritually weak. Perhaps you have committed sin that has weakened you spiritually or you may have peculiar need in your life. There is deliverance through the prayer of faith. This passage talks aout prayer in various ways. Viz:
1. The prayer of faith
2. Personal prayer
3. The prayers of elders
4. The believers' prayers
5. Spirit-energized prayer

Elijah the prophet is cited as an example from the old covenant to give us a model of prayer. Since we have a better covenant, we should be able to get better results and encouragement in our prayers.

This passage also talks about faith. Verse 15 says "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Actually the whole book of James talks about faith and shows the types of faith to be manifested when we pray.
a) Unwavering faith must be manifested when you pray (James 1:6)
b) Sincere, honest and pure faith (James 2:1)
c) Living, active and scriptural faith (James 2:17,20,26)
d) Rich, abundant faith that solely leans upon the promises of God (James 2:5)
e) Faith that is effective in healing and forgiveness (James 5:16)

These are the kinds of faith we are to manifest if we are attacked, sick or afflicted, in order to receive the desired result.

- Daniel OC

WATER FOR YOUR SOUL

by Max Lucado

Where do you find water for the soul? Jesus gave an answer one October day in Jerusalem. People had packed the streets for the annual reenactment of the rock-giving-water miracle of Moses. Each morning a priest filled a golden pitcher with water from the Gihon spring and carried it down a people-lined path to the temple. He did this every day, once a day, for seven days. “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’ ” (John 7:37–38).

He “stood and shouted” (NLT). The traditional rabbinic teaching posture was sitting and speaking. But Jesus stood up and shouted out. Forget a kind clearing of the throat. God was pounding his gavel on heaven’s bench. Christ demanded attention.

He shouted because his time was short. The sand in the neck of his hourglass was down to measurable grains. In six months he’d be dragging a cross through these streets. And the people? The people thirsted. They needed water, not for their throats, but for their hearts. So Jesus invited: Are your insides starting to shrivel? Drink me.

Internalize him. Ingest him. Welcome him into the inner workings of your life. Let Christ be the water of your soul.

Toward this end, I give you this tool: a prayer for the thirsty heart. Carry it just as a cyclist carries a water bottle. The prayer outlines four essential fluids for soul hydration: God’s work, God’s energy, his lordship, and his love. You’ll find the prayer easy to remember. Just think of the word W-E-L-L.

Lord, I come thirsty. I come to drink, to receive. I receive your work on the cross and in your resurrection. My sins are pardoned, and my death is defeated. I receive your energy. Empowered by your Holy Spirit, I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. I receive your lordship. I belong to you. Nothing comes to me that hasn’t passed through you. And I receive your love. Nothing can separate me from your love.

Don’t you need regular sips from God’s reservoir? I do. I’ve offered this prayer in countless situations: stressful meetings, dull days, long drives, demanding trips, character-testing decisions. Many times a day I step to the underground spring of God and receive anew his work for my sin and death, the energy of his Spirit, his lordship, and his love.

Drink with me from his bottomless well. You don’t have to live with a dehydrated heart.

Receive Christ’s work on the cross,
the energy of his Spirit,
his lordship over your life,
his unending, unfailing love.

Drink deeply and often. And out of you will flow rivers of living water.


From
Come Thirsty
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado

WHEN DEATH BECOMES BIRTH

by Max Lucado

You live one final breath from your own funeral.

Which, from God’s perspective, is nothing to grieve. He responds to these grave facts with this great news: “The day you die is better than the day you are born” (Eccles. 7:1). Now there is a twist. Heaven enjoys a maternity-ward reaction to funerals. Angels watch body burials the same way grandparents monitor delivery-room doors. “He’ll be coming through any minute!” They can’t wait to see the new arrival. While we’re driving hearses and wearing black, they’re hanging pink and blue streamers and passing out cigars. We don’t grieve when babies enter the world. The hosts of heaven don’t weep when we leave it.

Oh, but many of us weep at the thought of death. Do you? Do you dread your death? And is your dread of death robbing your joy of life?

Jesus came to “deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (Heb. 2:15).

Your death may surprise you and sadden others, but heaven knows no untimely death: “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Ps. 139:16).

Dread of death ends when you know heaven is your true home. In all my air travels I’ve never seen one passenger weep when the plane landed. Never. No one clings to the armrests and begs, “Don’t make me leave. Don’t make me leave. Let me stay and eat more peanuts.” We’re willing to exit because the plane has no permanent mailing address. Nor does this world. “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior” (Phil. 3:20).

Why don’t you do this: give God your death. Imagine your last breath, envision your final minutes, and offer them to him. Deliberately. Regularly. “Lord, I receive your work on the cross and in your resurrection. I entrust you with my departure from earth.” With Christ as your friend and heaven as your home, the day of death becomes sweeter than the day of birth.


From
Come Thirsty
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado

IN GOD WE (NEARLY) TRUST

by Max Lucado

A few days before our wedding, Denalyn and I enjoyed and endured a sailing voyage. Milt, a Miami church friend, had invited Denalyn, her mom, and me to join him and a few others on a leisurely cruise along the Florida coast.

Initially it was just that. Leisure. We stretched out on cushions, hung feet over the side, caught some zzz’s and rays. Nice.

But then came the storm. The sky darkened, the rain started, and the flat ocean humped like a dragon’s neck. Sudden waves of water tilted the vessel up until we saw nothing but sky and then downward until we saw nothing but blue. I learned this about sailing: there is nothing swell about a swell. Tanning stopped. Napping ceased. Eyes turned first to the thunderclouds, then to the captain. We looked to Milt.

He was deliberate and decisive. He told some people where to sit, others what to do, and all of us to hang on. And we did what he said. Why? We knew he knew best. No one else knew the difference between starboard and stern. Only Milt did. We trusted him. We knew he knew.

And we knew we didn’t. Prior to the winds, we might have boasted about Boy Scout merit badges in sailing or bass-boat excursions. But once the storm hit, we shut up. (Except for Denalyn, who threw up.) We had no choice but to trust Milt. He knew what we didn’t—and he cared. The vessel was captained, not by a hireling or a stranger, but by a pal. Our safety mattered to him. So we trusted him.

Oh, that the choice were equally easy in life. Need I remind you about your westerly winds? With the speed of lightning and the force of a thunderclap, williwaws anger tranquil waters. Victims of sudden storms populate unemployment lines and ICU wards. You know the winds. You’ve felt the waves. Good-bye, smooth sailing. Hello, rough waters.

Such typhoons test our trust in the Captain. Does God know what he is doing? Can he get us out? Why did he allow the storm?

Can you say about God what I said about Milt?
I know God knows what’s best.
I know I don’t.
I know he cares.

Such words come easily when the water is calm. But when you’re looking at a wrecked car or a suspicious-looking mole, when war breaks out or thieves break in, do you trust him?

To embrace God’s sovereignty is to drink from the well of his lordship and make a sailboat-in-the-storm decision. Not in regard to Milt and the sea, but in regard to God and life. You look toward the Captain and resolve: he knows what’s best.


From
Come Thirsty
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado

An Inseparable Pair

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. - Ecclesiastes 3:1.

Every coin has two sides. They go hand in hand. They stand and fall together. Whatever the case may be, the coin always exists with two sides. Whatever happens to the one also happens to the other. They are Siamese twins, inseparable.

Time and life are like that too. Like the two sides of a coin, they interact with and affect each other. They are joined together and have a common destiny. They travel together on the same place. Time cannot make sense without its relations to life. Similarly, life has no meaning without its relation to time. They always need each other and compliment each other in their relationship.

Beloved saints of God, whatever you do with your life affects your time and whatever you do with your time affects your life. The quality of your life is determined by the way you use your time. The value you manage to squeeze out of your time will be determine by the kind of life you envision.

Finally, whatever you do to your time will be done to your life and whatever you do to your life will also be done to your time. Waste time and life goes down the drain. Play with your life and time flies out of the window. You cannot have your cake and eat it. Be sure to use your time and life for the most profitable engagement ever, that which will last throughout all time and eternity and yield a reword that appreciates forever.

As an unbeliever, you can enter that path to Jesus Christ today. As a believer, you can re-dedicate your life and time to please God. Remember that there is only one life given to every man and we must all give account on the last day. "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this judgement. (Hebrews 9:27).

May the good Lord bless you as you make the best of your life and time fruitfully for the glory of God Almighty!

The quality of your life is determined by the way you use your time.

- Daniel O.C.

Simply Excellent

For you were once darkness, but now you are in the Lord. Walk as children of light. - Ephesians 5:8.

Someone is diligently calling all Christians for love and partnership, she is simply excellent. Who is this ? "I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me. Riches and honour are with me, enduring riches and righteousness. My fruits is better than gold, yes than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver. I traverse the way of righteousness, in the midst of justice, that I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, that I may fill their treasuries" (Proverbs 8:17-21)

Beloved saints of the living God, who is this making such excellent offer ? She gives riches, honours, desirable riches and righteousness. She speaks right things, excellent things and truth. Every Christian believer really needs to meet her. Much more than mere acquaintance, every working Christian should like to share board with her, so well as to say to her, "For wisdom is better than rubies and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her." (Proverbs 8:11)

But what is her name if you know her ? Where can she be found ? She has such excellent qualities and adds good value to the labours of those that know her. She helps Christians be well-motivated and make timely decisive actions in order to become great achievers of good things.

There are only 24 hours in a day, but by her a godly Christian can accomplish in a day what an ordinary, slothful and pleasure seeking so called churchgoer may not get done in a year.

Beyond human appreciation, she has supernatural appeal. She says, "The Lord possesed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a cricle on the face of the deep. " (Proverbs 8:22-27). No wonder the Scriptures say that everything that God made in Creation was very good (Genesis 1:31). She is a divine quality of God. Praise the Lord, but do you know her name ?

Yes! Her name is WISDOM and her twin partner is called UNDERSTANDING. Wisdom is calling on every Christian to make himself/herself a name among the precious of distinction. "Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom, and in all your getting, get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7) "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10). "Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding" (Proverbs 23:23).

Faith is not founded on feelings but it stands firm on the Word of the Lord.

- Daniel O.C

SERVE ONE ANOTHER

by Max Lucado

Jesus “set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion” (Phil. 2:7–8 MSG).

Let’s follow his example. Let’s “put on the apron of humility, to serve one another” (1 Pet. 5:5 TEV). Jesus entered the world to serve. We can enter our jobs, our homes, our churches. Servanthood requires no unique skill or seminary degree. Regardless of your strengths, training, or church tenure, you can …

Love the overlooked. Jesus sits in your classroom, wearing the thick glasses, outdated clothing, and a sad face. You’ve seen him. He’s Jesus.

Jesus works in your office. Pregnant again, she shows up to work late and tired. No one knows the father. According to water-cooler rumors, even she doesn’t know the father. You’ve seen her. She’s Jesus.

When you talk to the lonely student, befriend the weary mom, you love Jesus. He dresses in the garb of the overlooked and ignored. “Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40 MSG).

You can do that. Even if your sweet spot has nothing to do with encouraging others, the cure for the common life involves loving the overlooked. You can also …

Wave a white flag. We fight so much. “Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from?” asks the brother of Jesus. “Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves” (James 4:1 MSG). Serve someone by swallowing your pride. One more aspect of servanthood…..

Every day do something you don’t want to do. Pick up someone else’s trash. Surrender your parking place. Call the long-winded relative. Carry the cooler. Doesn’t have to be a big thing. Helen Keller once told the Tennessee legislature that when she was young, she had longed to do great things and could not, so she decided to do small things in a great way. Don’t be too big to do something small. “Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort” (1 Cor. 15:58 MSG).

A good action not only brings good fortune, it brings God’s attention. He notices the actions of servants. He sent his Son to be one.

When you and I crest Mount Zion and hear the applause of saints, we’ll realize this: hands pushed us up the mountain too. The pierced hands of Jesus Christ, the greatest servant who ever lived.

From

Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

Spiritual Wisdom

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. - 1 Cor. 2:12

The Holy Spirit enables us to live, pleasing and delighting the heart of our Heavenly Father if we allow Him to control our lives in every situation, daily and moment by moment. But often we are busy satisfying the senses of the flesh by making choices with senses and reason and acting on them without the Holy Spirit.

We profess and want to believe that we are led by the Spirit in all things, but we allow fleshly desires, the lust of the flesh, the pride of the life and the world to overcome us. We make choices that will grieve the Spirit of God. We make compromises and instead of leading a life of holiness, led by the Spirit of God and prayerfulness, we deceive ourselves and live in a make-believe 'white-washed life of pretense holiness.".

Beloved child of God, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God whose temple you are. Do not grieve the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ who loves you and who gave Himself for you without counting His own life that you might have eternal life.

Romans 8:8 says "So then those who are living the life o the flesh (catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature) cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him." Verse 13 says "For if you live according to (the dictates of) the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you are (habitually) putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the (evil) deeds prompted by the body, you shall (really and genuinely) live forever". So if you want to please God and satisfy Him, dedicate yourself to live a life led and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God for only then we are truly 'the sons of God' (Romans 8:14)

Confess to the Lord whatever has been your life all your shortcomings. Let the cry of David be your cry from the depth of your heart, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right preserving and steadfast spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your Holy presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:10). In a world where everyone is dead to sin and corrupt them to be the very core let them see you as a vessel of holiness, a true son of God, one who is truly the temple of God in whom dwells the Holy Spirit of God.

Today come to the Lord asking Him to make you His dwelling place, give yourself to a life lead and controlled by the Spirit of God. Then the very remembrance of you in the minds of people would be associated with someone who walks daily by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

If we put Him first in our lives, give to Him
the best of ourselves and serve Him
with our whole heat, soul and strength,
He will always have the best for us

- Daniel O.C

CHOOSING THE UNCOMMON LIFE

by Max Lucado

One can’t, at once, promote two reputations. Promote God’s and forget yours. Or promote yours and forget God’s. We must choose.

Joseph did. Matthew describes Jesus’s earthly father as a craftsman (Matt. 13:55). He lives in Nazareth: a single-camel map dot on the edge of boredom. Joseph never speaks in the New Testament. He does much. He sees an angel, marries a pregnant girl, and leads his family to Bethlehem and Egypt. He does much, but says nothing.

A small-town carpenter who never said a Scripture-worthy word. Is Joseph the right choice? Doesn’t God have better options? An eloquent priest from Jerusalem or a scholar from the Pharisees? Why Joseph? A major part of the answer lies in his reputation: he gives it up for Jesus. “Then Joseph [Mary’s] husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly” (Matt. 1:19).

Mary’s parents, by this point, have signed a contract and sealed it with a dowry. Mary belongs to Joseph; Joseph belongs to Mary. Legally and matrimonially bound.

Now what? His fiancée is pregnant, blemished, tainted … he is righteous, godly. On one hand, he has the law. On the other, he has his love. The law says, stone her. Love says, forgive her. Joseph is caught in the middle. But Joseph is a kind man. “Not wanting to disgrace her, [he] planned to send her away secretly” (v. 19 NASB).

A quiet divorce. How long would it stay quiet? Likely not long. But for a time, this was the solution.

Then comes the angel. “While he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit’ ” (v. 20).

Mary’s growing belly gives no cause for concern, but reason to rejoice. “She carries the Son of God in her womb,” the angel announces. But who would believe it? Who would buy this tale? Envision Joseph being questioned by the city leaders.

“Joseph,” they say, “we understand that Mary is with child.”

He nods.

“Is the child yours?”

He shakes his head.

“Do you know how she became pregnant?”

Gulp. A bead of sweat forms beneath Joseph’s beard. He faces a dilemma. He makes his decision. “Joseph … took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS” (Matt. 1:24–25).

Joseph tanked his reputation. He swapped his reputation for a pregnant fiancée and an illegitimate son and made the big decision of discipleship. He placed God’s plan ahead of his own.

Would you be willing to do the same? God grants us an uncommon life to the degree we surrender our common one. “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life” (Matt. 16:25 NLT). Would you forfeit your reputation to see Jesus born into your world?


From
Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

A Father's Love

Many poems have been written to explain
How a mother's love can soothe the pain
But little has been said about a Father's concern
So now I think it must be his turn.

A Father's love for his offspring
Is just like that of a solid gold ring,
No matter what, it is unending,
Never breaking; though .. sometimes bending.

His love is strong as a mother's, although..
Due to his personality, it sometimes doesn't show.
There is no question of how strong,
Or of its lasting, however long.

So no matter if his child is good or bad
There is no love stronger, than that of a Dad.

Happy Father's Day

YOUR GOD IS A GOOD GOD

by Max Lucado

Use your uniqueness to take great risks for God!

The only mistake is not to risk making one.

Such was the error of the one-talent servant. Did the master notice him? Indeed, he did. And from the third servant we learn a sobering lesson. “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground’ ” (Matt. 25: 24–25).

Contrast the reaction of the third servant with that of the first two.

The faithful servants “went and traded” (v. 16). The fearful one “went and dug” (v. 18).

The first two invested. The last one buried.

The first two went out on a limb. The third hugged the trunk.

The master wouldn’t stand for it. Brace yourself for the force of his response. “You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest” (vv. 26–27).

Whoa. What just happened? Why the blowtorch? Find the answer in the missing phrase. The master repeated the assessment of the servant, word for word, with one exclusion. Did you note it? “I knew you to be a hard man” (v. 24). The master didn’t repeat the description he wouldn’t accept.

The servant levied a cruel judgment by calling the master a hard man. The servant used the exact word for “hard” that Christ used to describe stiff-necked and stubborn Pharisees (see Matt. 19:8; Acts 7:51). The writer of Hebrews employed the term to beg readers not to harden their hearts (3:8). The one-talent servant called his master stiff-necked, stubborn, and hard.

His sin was not mismanagement, but misunderstanding. Was his master hard? He gave multimillion-dollar gifts to undeserving servants; he honored the two-talent worker as much as the five; he stood face to face with both at homecoming and announced before the audiences of heaven and hell, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Was this a hard master? Infinitely good, graciously abundant, yes. But hard? No.

The one-talent servant never knew his master. He should have. He lived under his roof and shared his address. He knew his face, his name, but he never knew his master’s heart. And, as a result, he broke it.

Who is this unprofitable servant? If you never use your gifts for God, you are. If you think God is a hard God, you are.

For fear of doing the wrong thing for God, you’ll do nothing for God. For fear of making the wrong kingdom decision, you’ll make no kingdom decision. For fear of messing up, you’ll miss out. You will give what this servant gave and will hear what this servant heard: “You wicked and lazy servant” (v. 26).

But you don’t have to. It’s not too late to seek your Father’s heart. Your God is a good God.

From
Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

Building God's House

For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. - Psalms 84:11

The promise here are unmistakable. The condition clearly states "walk uprightly with the Lord your God." This is why we preach holiness and emphasize on the total obedience to the Lord. This is the reason we encourage every Christian to walk in the narrow way and remain faithful to the Word of God in his public and private life.

It is understandable that the blessings of God are attached to the obedience of His word. There are several churchgoers who complain to be serving Him. They concede to their sinfulness but still affirm their devotion to the Almighty God. What hypocrisy! They can easily admit unfaithfully, "especially pride", through their words, actions and deeds. Yet they do not heed any godly sermon that leads them to repentance.

Beloved, repent and forsake your ungodly ways today and turn to the Lord with all your heart. Receive the word of God and obey it excitedly. Those who continue in their sins and expect to enjoy the promises of God would find their hopes dashed.

Sinners in church who are stagnant and unprogressive in their spiritual lives remain as the "tail," while new believers who have been sincerely born again, are forging ahead and becoming the "head". It is really painful to be the tail.

Beloved child of the living God! Why should you be "tail" when your Heavenly Father has set you to be a "head" ?

The word of God in Haggai 1:5,7 says, "Now therefore, thus says the Lord of Hosts, "Consider your ways."

Do mull over your habits and activities to ask whether your attitude is sensible before the Lord.

- Daniel O.C

HONOR GOD IN YOUR WORK

by Max Lucado

Heaven’s calendar has seven Sundays a week. God sanctifies each day. He conducts holy business at all hours and in all places. He uncommons the common by turning kitchen sinks into shrines, cafés into convents, and nine-to-five workdays into spiritual adventures.

Workdays? Yes, workdays. He ordained your work as something good. Before he gave Adam a wife or a child, even before he gave Adam britches, God gave Adam a job. “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15 NASB). Innocence, not indolence, characterized the first family.

God views work worthy of its own engraved commandment: “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest” (Exod. 34:21 NASB). We like the second half of that verse. But emphasis on the day of rest might cause us to miss the command to work: “You shall work six days.” Whether you work at home or in the marketplace, your work matters to God.

And your work matters to society. We need you! Cities need plumbers. Nations need soldiers. Stoplights break. Bones break. We need people to repair the first and set the second. Someone has to raise kids, raise cane, and manage the kids who raise Cain.

Whether you log on or lace up for the day, you imitate God. Jehovah himself worked for the first six days of creation. Jesus said, “My Father never stops working, and so I keep working, too” (John 5:17 NCV). Your career consumes half of your lifetime. Shouldn’t it broadcast God? Don’t those forty to sixty hours a week belong to him as well?

The Bible never promotes workaholism or an addiction to employment as pain medication. But God unilaterally calls all the physically able to till the gardens he gives. God honors work. So honor God in your work. “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good” (Eccles. 2:24 NASB).

Here is the big idea:

Use your uniqueness (what you do)
to make a big deal out of God (why you do it)
every day of your life (where you do it).

At the convergence of all three, you’ll find the cure for the common life: your sweet spot.

From
Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

AN UNCOMMON CALL TO AN UNCOMMON LIFE

by Max Lucado

Each person is given something to do that shows who God is.
1 Corinthians 12:7 MSG

Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of you. He custom designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment. Mine like a gold digger the unique-to-you nuggets from your life.

When I was six years old, my father built us a house. Architectural Digest didn’t notice, but my mom sure did. Dad constructed it, board by board, every day after work. My youth didn’t deter him from giving me a job. He tied an empty nail apron around my waist, placed a magnet in my hands, and sent me on daily patrols around the building site, carrying my magnet only inches off the ground.

One look at my tools and you could guess my job. Stray-nail collector.

One look at yours and the same can be said. Brick by brick, life by life, God is creating a kingdom, a “spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5 CEV). He entrusted you with a key task in the project. Examine your tools and discover it. Your ability unveils your destiny. “If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 4:11). When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Study your skills, then, to reveal your assignment.

Look at you. Your uncanny ease with numbers. Your quenchless curiosity about chemistry. Others stare at blueprints and yawn; you read them and drool. “I was made to do this,” you say.

Heed that inner music. No one else hears it the way you do.

What about you? Our Maker gives assignments to people, “to each according to each one’s unique ability” (Matt. 25:15). As he calls, he equips. Look back over your life. What have you consistently done well? What have you loved to do? Stand at the intersection of your affections and successes and find your uniqueness.

You have one. A divine spark. An uncommon call to an uncommon life. “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others” (1 Cor. 12:7 CEV). So much for the excuse “I don’t have anything to offer.” Did the apostle Paul say, “The Spirit has given some of us …”? Or, “The Spirit has given a few of us …”? No. “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.” Enough of this self-deprecating “I can’t do anything.”

And enough of its arrogant opposite: “I have to do everything.” No, you don’t! You’re not God’s solution to society, but a solution in society. Imitate Paul, who said, “Our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God’s plan for us” (2 Cor. 10:13 NLT). Clarify your contribution.

Don’t worry about skills you don’t have. Don’t covet strengths others do have. Just extract your uniqueness. “Kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you” (2 Tim. 1:6 NASB).

From
Cure for the Common Life:
Living in Your Sweet Spot
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005) Max Lucado

The River of Communion

The first fresh hour of every morning should be dedicated to the Lord whose mercy gladdens it with golden light. The eyes of the day open their lids, and in so doing open the eyes of the hosts of heaven's protected slumbers.

It is fitting that those eyes should look up to the great Father of lights, the fount and source of all good things upon which the sunlight gleams. It augurs for us a day of grace when we begin bedtimes with God, the sanctifying influence of all season spent operates upon each succeeding hour.

Morning devotion anchors the soul, so that it will not readily drift far away from God during the day. Morning devotion perfumes the heart so that it smells fragrant with piety until night falls. It girds up the soul's garments so that it is less apt to stumble and feeds all its powers so that it is not permitted to faint.

The morning is the date of the day and should be well-guarded with prayer. It is one end of the thread on which the day's actions are strung and should be well-knotted with devotion.

If we felt more the majesty of life, we should be more careful of its mornings, because "For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5)

He who rushes from his bed to his usual daily business without first talking to and worshipping God is as foolish as though he had not put on his/her clothes or cleaned his/her face. He/she is unwise as though he/she had dashed into battle without arms and armour. Let us bathe in the softly flowing river of communion with God before the wilderness and the burden of the way begin to operate us.

Beloved saints of the Living God, let us heat the summary of this issue:-
- You can pray like prophet Daniel and stop the lion's mouth
- You can pray like Elijah and call down fire from heaven
- You can pray like propher Elisha and humble an enemy nation
- You can pray like propher Moses, the chosen leader and divide the sea
- You can pray like the humble housewife Hannah and receive your Samuel from God
- You can pray like the prophetess Deborah and be a mother in Israel
- Obviously! You can pray like Queen Esther and save a nation

May God help us heed His divine call to pray for our blessed generation in Jesus' name. Amen. Beloved, sense the urgency of the hour and respond to the divine call to pray. Morning devotion anchors the soul, so that it will not readily drift away from God during the day.

- Daniel O.C

OPEN ARMS

by Max Lucado

If you ever wonder how in the world God could use you to change the world, look at the people God used to change history. A ragbag of ne’er-do-wells and has-beens who found hope, not in their performance, but in God’s proverbially open arms.

Abraham- God took what was good and forgave what was bad and used “old forked tongue” to start a nation. Moses- would you call upon a fugitive to carry the Ten Commandments? God did. David- his track record left little to be desired, but his repentant spirit was unquestionable. Jonah- God put him in a whale’s belly to bring him back to his senses. But even the whale couldn’t stomach this missionary for too long.

On and on the stories go: Elijah, the prophet who pouted; Solomon, the king who knew too much; Jacob, the wheeler-dealer; Gomer, the prostitute; Sarah, the woman who giggled at God. One story after another of God using man’s best and overcoming man’s worst.

The reassuring lesson is clear. God used (and uses!) people to change the world. People! Not saints or superhumans or geniuses, but people. Crooks, creeps, lovers, and liars—he uses them all. And what they may lack in perfection, God makes up for in love.

Jesus later summarized God’s stubborn love with a parable. He told about a teenager who decided that life at the farm was too slow for his tastes. So with pockets full of inheritance money, he set out to find the big time. What he found instead were hangovers, fair-weather friends, and long unemployment lines. When he had had just about as much of the pig’s life as he could take, he swallowed his pride, dug his hands deep into his empty pockets, and began the long walk home; all the while rehearsing a speech that he planned to give to his father.

He never used it. Just when he got to the top of the hill, his father, who’d been waiting at the gate, saw him. The boy’s words of apology were quickly muffled by the father’s words of forgiveness. And the boy’s weary body fell into his father’s opened arms.

The same open arms welcomed him that had welcomed Abraham, Moses, David, and Jonah. No wagging fingers. No clenched fists. No “I told you so!” slaps or “Where have you been?” interrogations. No crossed arms. No black eyes or fat lips. No. Only sweet, open arms. If you ever wonder how God can use you to make a difference in your world, just look at those he has already used and take heart. Look at the forgiveness found in those open arms and take courage.

And, by the way, never were those arms opened so wide as they were on the Roman cross. One arm extending back into history and the other reaching into the future. An embrace of forgiveness offered for anyone who’ll come. A hen gathering her chicks. A father receiving his own. A redeemer redeeming the world.

No wonder they call him the Savior.

From No Wonder They Call Him the Savior
© (W Publishing Group, 1986, 2004) Max Lucado

20 APRIL 2008

NOTE: COMMUNION SERVICE
-
CHAIRMAN: Caleb R.
WORSHIP LEADER: Kai Yew
BACK UPS: Hong Lu, Gigi Lim, Jenny Lee
-
PIANIST: Jun Fhui
SYNTH: Joseph Yap
-
DRUMMER: Anna Sim
GUITARIST: Terry Choong
-
LCD: Meng Fhui, Moses Tan
PA: Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh

13 APRIL 2008

CHAIRMAN: Dr Siow KW
WORSHIP LEADER: Shankar R.
BACK UPS: Siew Pin, Jacinta Lee, Jocelyn Choong
-
PIANIST: Jessica Lee
SYNTH: Jun Fhui
-
DRUMMER: Simon Lim
GUITARIST: Anna Sim
-
LCD: Tian Sia, Jocelyn Lee
PA: Hiew FF, Tommy Quek

6 APRIL 2008

NOTE: COMMUNION SERVICE
CHAIRMAN: Barnabas P.
WORSHIP LEADER: Foong Yee
BACK UPS: Gigi Lim, Peggy Tan
-
PIANIST: Lydia Sim
SYNTH: Meng Fhui
-
DRUMMER: Kai Yew
GUITARIST: Terry Choong
-
LCD: Joseph Yap, Moses Tan
PA: Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh

30 MARCH 2008

CHAIRMAN: Liong KC
WORSHIP LEADER: Terry Choong
BACK UPS: Peter Long, Foong Yee, Jenny Lee
-
PIANIST: Grace Lee
SYNTH: Joseph Yap
-
DRUMMER: Jaemy Choong
GUITARIST: Anna Sim
-
LCD: Meng Fhui, Jun Fhui
PA:Tommy Quek, Simon Lim

BELIEVE & RECEIVE by MAX LUCADO

“. . . whoever believes in him shall not perish . . .”

Can I really trust that “whoever believes in him shall not perish”?

Jesus’s invitation seems too simple. We gravitate to other verbs. Work has a better ring to it. “Whoever works for him will be saved.” Satisfy fits nicely. “Whoever satisfies him will be saved.”

But believe? Shouldn’t I do more?
The simplicity troubles many people.

We expect a more proactive assignment, to have to conjure up a remedy for our sin.
Some mercy seekers have donned hair shirts, climbed cathedral steps on their knees, or traversed hot rocks on bare feet.

Others of us have written our own Bible verse: “God helps those who help themselves” (Popular Opinion 1:1). We’ll fix ourselves, thank you. We’ll make up for our mistakes with contributions, our guilt with busyness. We’ll overcome failures with hard work. We’ll find salvation the old-fashioned way: we’ll earn it.

Christ, in contrast, says to us: “Your part is to trust. Trust me to do what you can’t.”
By the way, you take similar steps of trust daily, even hourly. You believe the chair will support you, so you set your weight on it. You believe water will hydrate you, so you swallow it. You trust the work of the light switch, so you flip it. You have faith the doorknob will work, so you turn it.

You regularly trust power you cannot see to do a work you cannot accomplish. Jesus invites you to do the same with him.
Just him. Not Moses or any other leader. Not even you. You can’t fix you. Look to Jesus . . .
and believe.

From 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado

23 MARCH 2008

NOTE: EASTER CELEBRATION SERVICE @ 9am
-
CHAIRMAN: Caleb R.
WORSHIP LEADER: Kai Yew
BACK UPS: Peter Long, Foong Yee, Jenny Lee
-
PIANIST: Jessica Lee
SYNTH: Meng Fhui
DRUMMER: Jaemy Choong
GUITARIST: Terry Choong
-
LCD: Tian Sia, Gigi Lim
PA: Simon Lim, Manjit Singh

BELIEVE IN HIM by MAX LUCADO

“. . . whoever believes in him shall not perish . . .”

The phrase “believes in him” doesn’t digest well in our day of self-sufficient spiritual food. “Believe in yourself ” is the common menu selection of our day. Try harder. Work longer. Dig deeper. Self-reliance is our goal.

And tolerance is our virtue. “In him” smacks of exclusion. Don’t all paths lead to heaven? Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and humanism? Salvation comes in many forms, right? Christ walks upriver on this topic. Salvation is found, not in self or in them, but in him.

Some historians clump Christ with Moses, Muhammad, Confucius, and other spiritual leaders. But Jesus refuses to share the page. He declares, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6 RSV). He could have scored more points in political correctness had he said, “I know the way,” or “I show the way.” Yet he speaks not of what he does but of who he is: I am the way.

Many recoil at such definitiveness. John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 sound primitive in this era of broadbands and broad minds. The world is shrinking, cultures are blending, borders are bending; this is the day of inclusion. All roads lead to heaven, right? But can they?

The sentence makes good talk-show fodder, but is it accurate? Can all approaches to God be correct? Every path does not lead to God.

Jesus blazed a stand-alone trail void of self-salvation. He cleared a one-of-a-kind passageway uncluttered by human effort. Christ came, not for the strong, but for the weak; not for the righteous, but for the sinner. We enter his way upon confession of our need, not completion of our deeds. He offers a unique-to-him invitation in which he works and we trust, he dies and we live, he invites and we believe.

We believe in him. “The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent” (John 6:29 NCV). This union is publicly dramatized in baptism, for to be baptized, as Paul wrote, is to be baptized into Christ. (Gal. 3:27)

Believe in yourself? No. Believe in him.
Believe in them? No. Believe in him.

And those who do, those who believe “in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

From 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado

KNOCKING ON HEAVEN'S DOOR.. CRYING FOR THIS GENERATION

13/3/08

The Pastor/Elder/Leader
NECF Member Churches
Malaysia

Dear Pastor/Elder/Leader,

Urgent Call for Continued Prayer

We thank God for the smooth, event-free election. We believe this has come about through all our prayers, so thank you for praying.

We look forward to a new era of inter-racial respect, religious freedom, respect for places of worship and integrity in governance.

We look forward to a nation free from corruption, communal hatred, political intimidation, judicial rot and many other ills that have plagued the system.

It is therefore imperative that we continue to pray, especially during this critical transitional period.

Pray:

1) For smooth handover of power to the four new state governments;
2) For the candidates who have won that they will remain humble and work diligently to fulfill their promises to the rakyat;
3) For those who failed to win that they will be gracious in their loss, they will continue to serve the rakyat and play an effective “check and balance” role;
4) For harmonious working relations among the Barisan Rakyat parties – PKR, DAP and PAS;
5) Against those who are out to stir dissension and create strife and unrest;
6) For all to refrain from spreading messages, such as SMS and e-mails, that may cause racial and religious misunderstandings;
7) For harmonious and productive relations in all aspects between the Federal Government and the five states under opposition rule; and
8) For the elected members of parliament (MPs) that they will uphold the law-making institution, and live up to the rakyat’s expectation as role models of integrity, courage, fairness and selflessness.


Yours in His Service

Rev Wong Kim Kong, J.M.N.
Secretary-General

21 MARCH 2008

NOTE: GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE @ 8pm
-
CHAIRMAN: Dr. Siow KW
WORSHIP LEADER: Shankar R.
BACK UPS: Siew Pin, Peggy Tan
-
PIANIST: Jun Fhui
DRUMMER: Anna Sim
-
LCD: Moses Tan, Meng Fhui
PA: Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh

A GOOD HEADSTART

The Young Adults Fellowship's change in timeslot to Sundays after Sunday Service has seen an encouraging and promising turnout..
*More so when lunch is provided*
Praise God for His favor and faithfulness..
-
Let's continue to support this budding ministry through prayer and participation..

16 MARCH 2008

NOTE: COMMUNION SERVICE

CHAIRMAN: Barnabas P.
-
WORSHIP LEADER: Peter Long
BACK UPS: Gigi Lim, Tian Sia, Hong Lu
-
PIANIST: Lydia Sim
SYNTH: Jonathan Long
-
GUITARIST: Anna Sim
DRUMMER: Simon Lim

9 MARCH 2008

CHAIRMAN: Liong KC
-
WORSHIP LEADER: Foong Yee
BACK UPS: Shankar R., Peggy Tan
-
PIANIST: Jun Fhui
SYNTH: Meng Fhui
-
GUITARIST: Terry Choong
DRUMMER: Kai Yew
-
LCD: Joseph Yap, Moses Tan
PA: Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh

2 MARCH 2008

NOTE: COMMUNION SERVICE

CHAIRMAN: Caleb R.
-
WORSHIP LEADER: Terry Choong
BACK UPS: Siow KW, Jenny Lee, Foong Yee
-
PIANIST: Grace Lee
sYNTH: Joseph Yap
-
GUITARIST: Niel Chan
DRUMMER: Jaemy Choong
-
LCD: Meng Fhui, Jun Fhui
PA: Tommy Quek, Simon Lim

SINCERELY YOURS

A gentle plea for unity in the body of Christ.
-
Brothers & sisters in Christ:

• do continue to support the Young Adults Fellowship with your presence, participation & prayers.
• we are the next generation of leaders that will carry the torch and run the race till Jesus comes again.
• this Fellowship where we can build a strong familial relationship with each other and the present church leaders.
• progressively building concern and care for each other, the church and the nation.

24 FEBRUARY 2008

CHAIRMAN: Barnabas P.

WORSHIP LEADER: Kai Yew
BACK UPS: Gigi Lim, Peter Long, Tian Sia

PIANIST: Jun Fhui
SYNTH: Jonathan Long

GUITARIST: Terry Choong
DRUMMER: Simon Lim

LCD: Jocelyn Lee, Siew Pin
PA: Manjit Singh, Hiew FF

17 FEBRUARY 2008

CHAIRMAN: Dr. Siow KW

WORSHIP LEADER: Shankar R.
BACK UPS: Siew Pin, Hong Lu, Fong Yee

PIANIST: Jessica Lee
SYNTH: Meng Fhui

GUITARIST: Niel Chan
DRUMMER: Anna Sim

LCD: Moses Tan, Joseph Yap
PA: Tom Cheryan, Tommy Quek

ANNOUNCEMENT

The Young Adults Fellowship will be having the next meeting as follows:

Date: 24 February 2008 - Sunday

Time: 11.30 am

Venue: Church Library

There is lunch provided after the fellowship at the Hospitality Room.

Please take note. Thank you.

10 FEBRUARY 2008

NOTE: CHINESE NEW YEAR WEEKEND

CHAIRMAN: Caleb R.

WORSHIP LEADER: Terry Choong
BACK UPS: Siow KW, Jenny Lee, Foong Yee

PIANIST: Grace Lee
SYNTH: Joseph Yap

GUITARIST: Patrick Lim
DRUMMER: Jaemy C.

LCD: Jun Fhui
PA: Manjit Singh, Simon Lim

3 FEBRUARY 2008

NOTE: COMMUNION SERVICE

CHAIRMAN: Barnabs P.

WORSHIP LEADER: Peter Long
BACK UPS: Gigi Lim, Hong Lu

PIANIST: Lydia Sim
SYNTH: Jonathan L.

GUITARIST: Niel Chan
DRUMMER: Simon Lim

LCD: Tian Sia, Meng Fhui
PA: Tommy Quek, Hiew FF

27 JANUARY 2008

CHAIRMAN: Dr. Siow KW

WORSHIP LEADER: Foong Yee
BACK UPS: Peggy Tan, Jacintha Lee, Shankar R.

PIANIST: Jun Fhui
SYNTH: Meng Fhui

GUITARIST: Anna Sim
DRUMMER: Kai Yew

LCD: Moses Tan, Joseph Yap
PA: Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh

20 JANUARY 2008

CHAIRMAN: Dr. Siow KW

WORSHIP LEADER: Shankar R.
BACK UPS: Peter Long, Siew Pin,

PIANIST: Jessica Lee
SYNTH: Jonathan Long

GUITARIST:Niel Chan
DRUMMER: Anna Sim

LCD: Tian Sia, Gigi Lim
PA:Simon Lim, Manjit Singh

18 JANUARY 2008

• Barnabas Param
• Terry Choong
• Joycelyn Choong, Peggy Tan, Ken Fhui
• Lydia Sim
• Jonathan Long
• Jaemy Choong
• Anna Sim
• Richard, Colleen Chang
• Tom Cheryan, Manjit Singh
  

Worship roster

Worship roster for 18-Nov 2007 till 20-January 2007 is available here.