Heaven is Your Home

The 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 plan landed.  Never.

No one clings to the armrests and begs, “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.

Paul said in Philippians 3:20:  “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.  And we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior.”

What about you? Is your fear of dying robbing your joy of living?

Romans 14:9 says, “Christ died and rose again for this very purpose, so that he might be Lord of those who are alive and of those who have died.”

In Christ, heaven is your home!

From: Come Thirsty

D4: Release

In the Year of Jubilee, God commands all Israelite slaves to be set free. They are to be released back to their home and family. They are servants of God delivered from Egypt and are not to be sold and oppressed as slaves. Today, slavery is still prevalent in our society. One of the worst forms of slavery is human trafficking. Children, women and men are traded and entered into forced, often sexual, labour. It has been reported that Malaysia is a well known destination and transit point for human trafficking. Poverty is also a form of slavery. Despite rapid national development, there are still many in both rural and urban areas who are enslaved by poverty, unable to provide for themselves and vulnerable to abuse. Slavery is also alive through unjust and repressive laws that deny personal freedom and promotes injustice. Let us pray that God will send release as we enter into our Jubilee.

‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. (Lev 25:39-41)

Prayer Suggestions: • Pray for all who are bound in sin and the evil one to be liberated and set free. • Pray for the human trafficking network to be busted and those bound by it to be set free. • Pray for the cycle of poverty to be broken. • Pray for enslaving laws to be repealed.

We’re Made Whole

Sin sees the world with no God in it! Where we might think of sin as slip-ups or missteps, God views sin as a godless attitude that leads to godless actions.

Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.”  Sin proclaims, “It’s your life, right?  Pump your body with drugs, your mind with greed, your nights with pleasure.”  The godless life is a a me-dominated, childish life, a life of doing what we feel like doing, whenever we feel like doing it.

God says to love.  I choose to hate. God instructs, forgive.  I opt to get even.  God calls for self-control.  I promote self-indulgence.  This is sin.

Jesus took the punishment for that sin, and made us whole. God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong on him.

Trust his work for you, then trust His work in you.

From: Come Thirsty

D3: Restoration

In the Year of Jubilee, God commands all lands to be restored to their original owners. Regardless of how they are lost, they are to be returned to their original owners. This is God’s way to ensure that the inheritance of each tribe is preserved for the following generation. In our national context, there is a great cry for restoration. Lands and wealth have been robbed, rights have been trampled on, institutions and administrations have been abused, and harmony has been neglected. Our children are at risk of inheriting a bankrupt, corrupt and divided nation. But the spirit of Jubilee presents a promise and opportunity to reverse these circumstances.

‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property. (Lev 25:13)

Prayer Suggestions: • Pray for stolen or lost lands, rights and wealth to be restored. • Pray for the wealth of our nation to be restored for the next generation.

One Scary Place

Here’s a test.   How far do you have to go to hear the reminder, “Be afraid?”

How near is your next, “You’re in trouble” memo? A flip of the newspaper page?  A turn of the radio dial?  A glance at the Internet?  According to the media the world is one scary place!

There’s a stampede of fear out there.  Let’s not get caught in it.  Let’s be among those who stay calm.  Acknowledge threats but refuse to be defined by them.  Let’s be numbered among those who hear a difference voice:  God’s!

Courage doesn’t panic, it prays.  Courage doesn’t bemoan, it believes.  Courage listens to the voice of God calling through Scripture,  “When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic.”

“Let not your heart be troubled.”

Trust these and other words from God.

Trust God and fear less!

From: Fearless 

D2: Fresh Start

In the Year of Jubilee, God commands three things to be done: Restoration, Release and Rest. All land must be returned to their original owners. All slaves are to be set free. And all work is to cease. In doing this, Israel and her people are re-established and given a fresh start for the next 50 years. Each one begins afresh with equal potential and opportunity to prosper. This is God’s desire. And this is what we need and desire to see happen as Malaysia enters her Jubilee. We want God to intervene and give her a fresh start for the good of the nation as a whole. Let us pray that our Jubilee will bring that restoration, release and rest needed for the nation.

 It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan…. do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. (Lev 25:10-11)

Prayer Suggestions: • Pray that through this Jubilee God will restore, liberate and give rest to Malaysia. • Pray that through this Jubilee Malaysia will be realigned with God’s will and be changed for a fresh start.

The Day I Touched a Leper

A visit to a leper colony in India brought me face-to-face with my unwillingness to love.

After 10 days in India I was feeling homesick. But my host had arranged for one more important visit before my departure. We drove 45 minutes from Hyderabad to talk with some lepers who live in an abandoned building on the edge of the village of Madhapur. Pastor Paul, who leads a Pentecostal church nearby, invited us to help him give these desperately poor people new blankets to sleep on.

My friends, Raja and Sam, and I sat in plastic chairs in front of the crude concrete building, and the lepers gathered around us—sitting on dirty mats on the porch. I tried to focus my attention on their faces, but I couldn’t help but notice their gnarled hands and feet. Some of them were missing fingers and toes, while others had leathery scars on their necks and arms.

Flies were swarming everywhere. Something in the air made me itch.

"Christians can be as cruelly aloof as Hindus when we judge people rather than offer mercy. My experience in Madhapur made me realize that I’ve often blocked Jesus’ love because of ingrained prejudices or stupid fears."

I tried to hide the sadness I felt by engaging the lepers in conversation. They told me how painful their disease is, and how many years they had suffered with it. They explained why the building was abandoned (a Hindu charity established the home, but then stopped funding it.) Then one infected woman pointed to the man next to her and explained that they met and married while living as lepers—and that their son who was born in the facility does not have the disease.

D1: Jubilee

The Lord commanded Israel to observe the Jubilee every 50th year of their nationhood. On 16 September, Malaysia celebrates her 49th anniversary as a nation but also begins her 50th year. While we are not bound to such observance, Jubilee is a reflection of all that God desires for all people and nation and of what He will eventually establish for eternity. When Jesus died and was resurrected, He made the way for mankind to enter into Jubilee, a rest for all people. Many are still bound by sin and to the evil one in our nation. Corruption, evil and crime are still prevalent in our land. But Jesus liberates and provides for our Jubilee! As God commanded Israel to declare every 50th year as the Year of Jubilee, we believe that it is also what God desires for all Malaysians. So let’s pray and believe for all to experience the blessings of Jubilee as Malaysia enters into her 50th year.

Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you. (Lev 25:10)

Prayer Suggestions: • Thank God for the last 49 years of His faithfulness. • Consecrate the coming 50th year as holy unto the Lord. • Pray that God will release liberty upon all Malaysians.

5 Truths About God’s Will

from Charisma Magazine by info@strang.com (Daniel Kolenda)

The will of God can be simultaneously wonderful and confusing to those who seek after Him—which is why recognizing its characteristics is essential to understanding God’s will. Here’s some help.

A farmer in North Carolina lived on a beautiful farm that his family owned for many decades. When he died, his property—after being in the family for more than 200 years—was sold to one of the neighbors.

As the new owner was walking in the field, he saw a large, unusual-looking rock just barely sticking out of the dirt. He took it home, washed it and took it to a jewelry store. The jeweler confirmed what the owner already suspected: The old stone that had been in the field for thousands of years was a large, uncut emerald that has since proved to be worth several million dollars!

This gemstone was in that field all along just waiting for someone to come along and “discover” it. Undoubtedly, the emerald had been seen thousands of times before, but it was overlooked because it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary rock.

When we “discover” something, we are finding something that already exists, though we were unaware of it previously. And while many people are desperately seeking God’s will for their lives, the reality is that often what they are looking for is right under their nose—but they continue to look for it because they don’t recognize it.

Life Stinks

Yes, life stinks. But it won’t forever!

As one of my friends likes to say “Everything will work out in the end. If it’s not working out, it’s not the end.”

In the meantime, don’t over-react! Psalm 37:7 reminds us, “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.”

Avoid Pollyanna optimism. But neither do we join the Chicken Little chorus of gloom and doom. “The sky is falling.” “The sky is falling!”

Somewhere between Pollyanna and Chicken Little, between denial and blatant panic, stands the follower of Christ.

Psalm 27:3 says, “My heart shall not fear—though war arise against me, yes, I will be confident!”

Confident in Him.

The Plan For a Gay (Domi) Nation - 3

Understand that the effort to legislate special rights for gays and lesbians has nothing to do with protecting homosexuals in the workplace or elsewhere. Homosexuals are already protected by law, just like everyone else. The push for special rights legislation is, in reality, nothing more than an effort to legitimize and respectabilize (to use Gershon Legman’s word) the homosexual lifestyle.

Wherever governments, corporations or municipalities have enacted measures that grant special rights to homosexuals, those who hold to traditional moral values and Christian beliefs have been subjected to discrimination, physical and emotional abuse, fines, sensitivity training, and in some cases even imprisonment. Make no mistake, civil rights for homosexuals is a one-way street: Freedom for me, but not for thee. And when homosexuality is promoted by society, Christians and other moral conservatives will no longer be able to express their beliefs in public.

You Are Not Born Gay
Let me be quick to say that I do not hate homosexuals. I know there are many caring and well-meaning men and women trapped in the homosexual lifestyle who would give anything to be free of it. I know there are sons and daughters who pray daily for deliverance and forgiveness but can’t break their habits and addictions. I also know there are some who actually do break with the lifestyle for a time, only to slip back; for them homosexuality has become a nightmare with no end. All these men and women have my deepest compassion and prayers, and I hope that my words, while unapologetic in portraying the sin of the homosexual agenda, will not weaken the spirits of those on the verge of transformation but will help spark a renewed commitment and even greater resolve to seek a way of escape.

The Plan For a Gay (Domi) Nation - 2

Overt Operation?
Some might argue that there’s nothing wrong with teaching kids about diversity, just as it’s only fair to include and encourage gays and lesbians in the workplace, where they can make a positive contribution. Though well meaning, that view misses the point entirely. The homosexual agenda has nothing to do with making a positive contribution. Furthermore, gay rights activists will never settle for a “live and let live” role. Their goal is to enforce acceptance and legitimization of their lifestyle and to overpower and overwhelm by sheer force anyone who dares to stand in their way.

This is not merely my opinion; it’s what homosexual activists have said about their own game plan. They have a strategic marketing plan to promote homosexuality and to vilify their enemies. That plan has been outlined and published in multiple places, including Guide magazine in November 1987, and it makes for some pretty eye-opening reading.

In “The Overhauling of Straight America,” homosexual activists Marshall Kirk and Erastes Pill describe several strategies that homosexuals can use to push their way onto center stage. Among their directives:

“Portray gays as victims, not as aggressive challengers. ... Mr. and Mrs. Public must be given no extra excuses to say, ‘They are not like us.’ ... Our campaign should not demand direct support for homosexual practices, but should instead take antidiscrimination as its theme. ... Make the victimizers look bad. ... The public should be shown images of ranting homophobes whose secondary traits and beliefs disgust middle America. These images might include: the Ku Klux Klan demonstrating that gays be burned alive or castrated; bigoted southern ministers drooling with hysterical hatred to a degree that looks both comical and deranged; menacing pugs, thugs and convicts speaking coolly about the ‘fags’ they have killed or would like to kill; a tour of Nazi concentration camps where homosexuals were tortured and gassed.”

The Plan For a Gay (Domi) Nation - 1

LOUIS P. SHELDON

Despite representing only 2 percent of the population, the radical homosexual agenda continues to change America. Can the church stem the moral tide?

Last year alumni from Wheaton College—what used to be the heart of conservative evangelicalism—made headlines for forming an organization to not only support the gay community, but also to promote the belief that homosexuality and Christianity are compatible. As on Christian college campuses throughout the United States, they have once again succeeded in convincing believers that Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor” means turning a blind eye to what the Bible explicitly calls an “abomination.”

“They” aren’t just Wheaton alumni or those who have formed similar groups—both official and unofficial—at Baylor, Harding, Samford, Seattle Pacific and a host of other universities and colleges. They would be the activists who have masterfully driven the gay agenda for more than 30 years and, with remarkable success and precision, changed our nation’s cultural mindset on homosexuality.

In 2008, Newsweek Religion Editor Lisa Miller wrote about “Joining the ‘Out’ Club” and wondered if Christian colleges might be “the last bastion of traditional values” standing amid these cultural changes: “As homosexuality ceases to be a cultural taboo, evangelicals increasingly have had to grapple openly with the question of how to deal with the gays and lesbians in their midst. Now, even on very conservative Christian campuses, there are gays who are ‘out’ and who want their authority figures to recognize them—and their sexuality—as deserving of God’s love.”

Chapters in Life

Certain chapters in this life seem so unnecessary—like nostrils on the pre-born. Like suffering.  Loneliness.  Disease. Holocausts.  Martyrdom.  Hurricanes, earthquakes and monsoons.

If we assume this world exists just for pre-grave happiness, these atrocities disqualify it from doing so!  But what if this earth is the womb?  Might these challenges, severe as they may be, serve to prepare us, equip us for the world to come?

The apostle Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 4:17:  “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing.”

Eternal glory?  I’d like a large cup of that,  wouldn’t you?

Everything in this life is preparing us for the next.

What Matters Most

It’s been here since they were both born.
 

The incessant need to constantly compare them to other kids. Are they sleeping like normal kids? Are they crawling or walking when they should? Are they talking when they should be?

And I see this starting to escalate as David is getting to the preschool age. I see some kids his age reading and he barely knows his letters (not for a lack of trying on my part) and I have panic attacks. What if he is behind? I feel like I’m constantly trying to get around other almost 3 year olds and listen to them talk to see where he is. And the same for Fiona. Why is she not talking more? It keeps me up at night sometimes worried about how each of them will do as they grow up.

This has just been on my mind SO much lately, but I am trying hard to set my “momma mind and heart” and focus on this:

I honestly have never had the desire (even before I had kids) for them to be the smartest kids at school. I would love it if they were, but that just doesn’t seem like the most important thing to me. I don’t need them to be super athletes – but if they were, I would be proud I’m sure. I know kids all develop at different rates.

Pastors’ Prayer Shield

Praying Daily For Our Pastors & Leaders

Jesus promised in Matt 16:18 ‘I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it’. He has entrusted the Church into the hands of our Pastors and Church leaders. He is ever jealous of His Church and He has given pastors and leaders authoritative anointing to raise a Church that glorifies His name, and to be a strong army that does not break ranks. They are our commanders - our shepherds, pastors, teachers, friends, counsellors, mediators, mentors, advisors - with Jesus as chief. Indeed, they are a unique people; people of power and of praise. They move in love, speak in peace and rejoice in hope. Yet, as much has been given, much is required.

The signs of end-times cannot be ignored. There are wars and rumours of wars; further challenges and persecution await. And yet our pastors must remain strong, vigilant, unshakeable and unmoveable. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Zech 13:7 says ‘Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered’. Just as rice is our staple food, so prayer for our pastors should also be part of our everyday prayer. 2 Thess 3:1 reminds us to pray for them. We need to pray for them and we will see God’s hand shaping our pastors.With the anointing that God has given them and our prayers backing them up, may they lead an “army of God” to push every spiritual frontier and see God’s kingdom come and His will be done in our land.

By Nicole Tang, SIB KL

From Poverty to Pride

There’s a predictable progression from poverty to pride.  The poor man prays and works; God hears and blesses.  The humble man becomes rich and forgets God.  The faithful, poor man becomes the proud, rich man.

As God said through Hosea, “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.” (Hosea 13:6)

How can a person survive prosperity?  Scripture says, do not be haughty!  Don’t think for a moment that you had anything to do with your accumulation.

Scripture also makes clear that your stocks, cash, and 401k are not yours.

1st Timothy 6:17 warns us, “do not put your trust in uncertain riches.”

Money is an untrustworthy foundation.

Have you noticed that the word “miser” is just one letter short of the word “misery!”

How a Little Girl From India Rocked My World

I always get my biggest attitude adjustments when I see Third World poverty.

The Lord often provides me with a big, fat dose of reality when I travel overseas. It happened this week in India when I looked into the frightened face of Divya, a frail 4-year-old girl. Just a few days ago her poor parents abandoned her in Tanuku, in eastern Andhra Pradesh, because they already had three daughters. They wanted a son.

So they dumped their child on the side of a road.

"I believe God is calling all of us to renounce our self-absorbed American prosperity religion so we can hear the cries around us. Let’s stop whining and be thankful."

When I met little Divya she would not smile no matter how much I coaxed her. She was traumatized. My friend Raja, who found her and took her to the girls’ home he runs with his wife, said Divya had not spoken in four days.

“She usually cries herself to sleep at night,” Raja said. “She doesn't understand what is happening.”

There are already more than 30 girls living in Raja’s house—and all of them have similar stories. Some were orphaned when their parents died, but many were abandoned because they live in a culture that devalues females. Two of the girls were found alive in trash bins when they were infants.Raja has also found a few dead baby girls in roadside trash piles. Pigs had eaten parts of their bodies.

Hope of Jubilee

Forward by Rev. Chan Theam Lai, NECF Secretary General

The Jubilee celebration for Malaysia begins on 16 September 2012 and Christians are looking forward to a great year of divine intervention to bring forth multiple blessings to the nation. From historical records and the study on Leviticus 25, Jubilee is the 50th year under God’s covenant with the people for the release of debts, the return of those in slavery, and the restoration of land back to its original owners. Jubilee is thus a system within Israelite society for transformation, renewal and blessings that will bring forth hope and rest to the nation.

Having faced one contentions issue after another regarding the Christian faith over the last 12 months, we await a refreshing touch from God to lift us up beyond our human concerns. Equality and religious liberty are the missing factors that cause many citizens to examine the constitution to seek fairness against injustice and an oppressive system. Nevertheless, in the midst of our frustrations as we face unending attacks on our faith, God is good as He rains the hope and promises of Jubilee upon the Christian community. We look to God knowing that He is sovereign and will intervene as we submit and obey His call to us in this nation.

Giving Characterizes God

Scrooge didn’t create the world—God did!

Giving characterizes God’s creation. From the first page of Scripture, God produces in pluralities. Every gift arrives in bulk, multiples, and medleys.

Psalm 104 celebrates this lavish creation with twenty-three verses of blessings: the heavens and the earth, the water and streams and trees and birds and oil and bread.  It continues by saying God is the source of  “innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great.  These all wait for Him, that He may give them their food in due season.”

 And He does.  God is the great giver.  The great provider.  The fount of every blessing.  Absolutely generous and utterly dependable.

 The resounding and recurring message of Scripture is clear:

God owns it all.  God shares it all.  1st Timothy 6:17 says we’re not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God.

Trust Him—not stuff!