40-Days Prayer & Fast

If you were to think of a picture that would represent your journey these past few weeks since the 40-days prayer and fast begun, what would it be?

For me, a smooth pebble lying across the stream represents my journey thus far.

Coupled together with Ps Khong's series of sermons on "Standing Tall in Turbulent Times", I feel that these few weeks has been a refining period for me:

1. In learning to trust God that He is in control of all things (Heb 5:13-14);
2. Being stretched to learn to listen to the voice of God amidst many distractions (Jn 10:27);
3. Pruning of my heart away from all self-centeredness and learning to be God-center/conscious (Col 3:1-3)

I started the 40-days prayer and fast like a rough surfaced pebble and now I am in the process of being molded and smoothened by the Lord's hands.

How about You?

Perhaps when we are older, we will understand...

Dear friends, i write this to all so that we can understand our parents better...


I would like to start off that in this year of Loving Our Neighbours, we need to learn to love our parents as well... But before we learn to love our parents, we need to understand their heartbeat... With this, i would like to share another song, Dan Fogelberg - Leader Of The Band


Yet again, this is another non-Christian song... This song is a tribute from Dan Folgerberg to his father, the leader of the band. After listening to it, i finally understand a bit more about my parents


Lyrics of Leader Of The Band:


He earned his love through discipline, a thundering velvet hand..
His gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understand


I thank you for the music, and your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom, when it came my time to go
I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough
And papa I don't think I said I love you near enough
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Many times we don't understand why our parents discipline us. We feel unjustified, and blame our parents that they do not understand us. I used to complain that my father does not love me at all, then one statement that he made changed my life...


My dad said: "Son, I do not blame you if you do not understand my love for you. Perhaps when you are older, when you have a family of your own, then you will understand all that I've done for you"


My father is a typical Chinese parent, he will not say mushy words such as "I love you", and neither will he kiss me on the forehead or cheeks. But when both of us sit down and eat a meal, we know that we love each other in our hearts, and no words need to be said.


My dad used to discipline me very harshly when I was young, that is why i grow up in an environment of punishment. Now that I'm much older, i appreciate that discipline, because it is his way of sculpting my soul, just as the song goes. The chinese saying goes, those who are able to take hardship of hardships becomes people of great calibre. Without digesting that hardship, I do not think that I will be here today...

Similar to the lyrics: "I thank you for the music, and the stories of the road", my dad used to share his life journey, his mistakes with me... He tell me "Son, if you can avoid making mistakes, then do not make it. People always say that we learn from our mistakes, but certain mistakes are too costly a price to pay..." These impartations are invaluable to me and made me understand the hearbeat of my father more...

"I thank you for the freedom, when it came my time to go" - My dad once sat with me for breakfast and he told me: "Son, I work my life out, so that you can have a better life, so that I can give you all that you need to go out to life and explore all the possibilities out there. I am unlike some parents, who needs their children to be by their side... My hope for you is go out and lead your own life, and lead a good life..." The words are still stuck in my head till today i will never forget.

Epilogue:

We may not understand our parents heartbeat for us at this present stage, but I'm sure in due time, perhaps when we are much older, or until we start our family, then we will come to realize... We will come to appreciate, and we will come to love them just as much as they love us...

Signed with deep apologies for forgiveness,
VaZe

Michael Jackson preaches a sermon we need

Dear friends, I write to you to share a song that touch my heart deeply...

This song is from the late Michael Jackson - Heal The World...

Chorus of Heal The World:

Heal the world,
make it a better place,
for you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying if you care enough for the living
make it a better place for you and for me...
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This is the chorus of a secular song, not much Christian at all, yet it speaks of what is needed to be done here...

We need to "Heal the cell, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire cluster"

Heal the cell? Is there a need to? You kidding?

Heal the cracklines and flaws in our relationships with each other in the cell

All from the construction industry will know that buildings are made of concrete, and if there is any hairline cracks in any concrete wall or support, the integrity of the building drops a lot. The building need not lose a pillar before it collapses, just many hair-line cracks will do the job. Thats why from outside we see a perfect building, but yet it is on the bringe of collapse.

Isn't this exactly the same as for our relationships with each other? From afar when we see it, we see it as a perfect building, sturdy and strong... What we fail to observe is the hair-line cracks on the supports and beams... This is dangerous as we overlook the fine hairline cracks, and have the wrong impression that our relationships are strong. In reality, the relationships may be on the bringe of collapsing without us knowing at all...

So what are these "fine looking, hairline cracks" in our relationships? They are hurts that we thought is small, not worthy of our attention. We hurt each other with our words, actions and tone yet we think that it is okay, it is minor, it is a joke only. We even feel that the other party is over sensitive, over reactive. Even if the hurts are there, we are evil (cannot find a better word) to the extent to think that the person will recover from a small wound. If so, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves as Christians.

Just like Paul of the bible, who says "Not that I have attained all these, but am pressing on to achieve and lay hold of it", I come in the same humility, ashamed for all the hurts which i inflicted on the cell group. I recently patch up with a sister whom i hurt, and until now still feel guilty and uneasy for it... (Sorry again to you, if you are reading this). I have a long way to go to be tactful and refined in speech, actions and tone. But I'm willing to say sorry and atone for my mistakes, making sure it will not happen again.

Yes, I am one of them who have hurt a brother/sister. What do I do?

I am a spiritual noob, can't offer that much advice... But I feel that we need to go up to the person and apologise... And yes, we need to lay down our pride just like Paul, who said: "I am less than the least of all God's people"and hence said "I consider everything (including pride) rubbish compared to knowing Jesus Christ".

An apology really makes the difference... I experienced the heart-warming feeling of an apology and I think this is a first step. It doesn't matter who is right or wrong, because God calls us to be peacemakers for they are the children of God. After the apology, there needs to be repentance on our part not to allow such a thing to happen. If we can do that, I feel what Michael sings about making a better place in the chorus will come to pass.

What is the consequence if we do not heal the cell?

Like what Michael sings: "there are people dying, if we care enough for the living", our brothers and sisters will "die" if we do not care about them. They will not die physically, but emotionally and spiritually. These victims of hurt will build defenses against our very own people instead of defending against the attacks of the devil. They will tell themselves that it is useless trying to confront the problem, no one will hear and no one will change. In the end, they will lose hope, faith and love in the cell group and falter away....

Epilogue

Why do I choose to use Michael Jackson's song? It is not that i cannot find a Christian song, but I want to illustrate a point. I want to highlight that even pre-believers understand the importance of care and the healing of souls. My friends, we need to make an "extra mile effort" in our fellowships and meetings to edify, care and understand each other to kill the poison of indifference and the hardening of our hearts. Only then we can really heal the cell, make it a better place for you and for me...

I do not like to share much on bible verses simply because i'm not good with the Word yet. I feel that wherever God place us, He can use the things around to teach us something. Bible scripture preaching will leave to Sunday service and Friday cell group to cover.

As you read to this point, maybe you feel that all this is rubbish, this is not happening, this is not an issue. For me, God says in 1 Peter 2 that it is His will that we do good, love the brotherhood, fear Him and honor the king. This year is a year of Loving Our Neighbours, and I want to heal the cell, make it a better place for you and for me... Who's with me?

Signed with deep apologies for repentence,
VaZe

Daryl's Baptism Testimony - "God used a Centipede to change my Life!"

Before I accepted Christ, I lived without a purpose and direction in my life. My purpose and motivation in life often tend to be personal achievements. I was hot tempered and very insensitive in my words and actions. Vulgarities is very commonly used when I am speak to others. I had a very slack attitude in everything I do and was pretty self-centered. I see no purpose in working hard unless necessary or if the task benefits me. I did not belief in any religion and dislike being devoted to any God, but I somehow knew there is a God. Well all these changed when I came to know Jesus, here is my story.

Fortunately, one of my closer friends that I knew from Junior college (since 1st 3 mth) brought me to FCBC countdown party in 2006. There I discovered that church does not seem as boring as I perceived it to be. I had fun but did not want to commit to any church activities because I always thought it was a waste of time. A week before my enlistment for national service in January 2007, Jaren brought me to service. There somehow for the first time I felt a presence of God . However I was unsure again did not want to commit to church. I told Jaren I needed sometime to think about accepting Jesus.

There I being ignorant and defiant, I challenged God . I told God , God if you are real show me some of your miracles when I am in army.

After I enlisted, there was once in field camp in BMT, I wanted to pull out a camouflage tube from my grenade pouch. However thank God I withdrew my hand in time. To my horror, resting in my pouch was a huge red centipede easily more that 15 cm long. I was frighten. I quickly unfasten my vest and fling it onto the ground. After which , I carefully unbuckled my grenade pouch . There laid the centipede. It made no movement. I took my rifle and trust the muzzle (the front part) at it. Immediately it crawled out extremely fast and was stomped upon by my buddies and me. After the incident, God reviewed that he was actually protecting me for being bitten by the creature. Despite that there was still a sense of reluctance in my heart to belief that it was God. I though it was mere coincidence and that I was lucky. I did not believe that the Lord had actually spoken to me. So being ignorant, I challenged God again to show me another miracle.

In another instance I was doing a road march in a sandy terrain . I was down with flu and phlegm. The sand and marching made me feel worst. I ended up with a bad headache. There I asked God for healing. I went and rested at night. The following day I was completely feeling fine just like before.

Jaren invited me to another service halfway through my bmt , during that service I was unsure but I but I felt God's presence. After encouragement by my friend, I decided to accept Jesus. Ever since than, my life transformed. I felt a purpose and reason in everything I did. I started to receive answers that I couldn't find. Problems did not instantaneously vanish but God used all the challenges I faced in life to mould me slowly. I became more patient and motivated to perform my best in every task given to me. I learned to love the people around me especially my family members.

After I accepted Christ, there was once when I gotten back my A levels results, I was deciding between my current course and computing. Then in army I prayed and ask God that if he is willing send to a unit where I will not be totally exhausted after each day of training so that I can spend more time with him and also for God to help me in choosing my course by allowing me to experience computing in army somehow. The Lord answered my prayer and posted me to signals where I experience some networking in my specialist course. By faith I applied for my current course chem and biochem instead, for I always loved chemistry and did not like doing computing. Praise God I got into the course I wanted.

Nelson's Baptism Testimony - "No more Vulgarities & Bullying - God changed my Life!"

Nelson's baptism @ TCT on 26th June 2009

Before I accepted Christ, I used to think that a man needs to enjoy life to the fullest by doing what he or she likes. In the past, I had a group of friends whom I felt were fun and cool. I followed them in speaking vulgarities, bullying others, stealing, cheating and many other bad habits. I felt good and thought they were the only people I could be with and trusted them for my life.

When I was in primary school, I attended a few church activities arranged specially for the kids. Church was enjoyable and wonderful as interesting stories were shared. During my secondary school time, I wanted to join a church and was once invited to an Easter Day event held at the indoor stadium. A lot of amazing testimonies were shared. People got healed and wonderful things happened there. Since then, I began to know there is a God that heals and many people put their faith and trust in Him. It was a special experience. However, I was still very confused and did not join a church.

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Desert Song - Hillsong

Dear Jaren, thank you so much for sharing the song with us. I remember I first this song in our car ride in Sabah.

As I looked closely at the lyrics written.. tears began to well up in my eyes. And I echo the sentiments you wrote. And I pray that this song will minister and touch all our hearts.

Even at the end of days, everything may have gone wrong for us. But we can still praise God because He is with us. Heaven and earth will pass away but my God will never forsake me. Just based on this truth, I will give praise!

Feel tired? Upset and bothered? Indifferent or just plain mad? Maybe the circumstances around us are overwhelming, or they're not that overwhelming.... Only many little hinderances that are so unnoticably burdensome.

None of us are free from the world as it is now, with death, deadlines, disturbing news, dreaded work to do, detestable people we meet. Yet none of us are without the presence of a God that is almighty yet gentle.

No matter the obstacles or little rocks littering our path in life, God is there pushing us on, paving the way, if only we let Him. So "throw off everything that hinders" and look forward and upward, to the ONLY One who can lead us out of a fiery and dry desert. Cos it is by faith we are saved, and it will still be by faith that we continue living our saved lives.

I'm reminded of one thing today, that Praise is a powerful weapon against all the negativity and battles we face everyday. When we praise God freely, not only does our faith arise and our souls brightens, but something in the spiritual realm lights up. God's glory is reflected in our mundane, everyday lives. That daily routine of sitting at the desk, turning on the computer to check email, or going for yet another meeting, or walking to the cookhouse to scan our 11B, or preparing for more training exercises... become something more than routine. It becomes routine filled with God's presence.

Concentrate not on the storm but the greatness and tenderness of the One who told us to "be of good cheer, for Jesus has overcame the world".

Hope this song lyrics speak to you guys, as much as it has spoken to me. No desert in my life will tear me down.

Desert Song (Brooke Fraser)

Verse 1:

This is my prayer in the desert

And all that's within me feels dry

This is my prayer in the hunger in me

My God is a God who provides

Verse 2:

And this is my prayer in the fire

In weakness or trial or pain

There is a faith proved

Of more worth than gold

So refine me Lord through the flames

Chorus:

And I will bring praise

I will bring praise

No weapon forged against me shall remain

I will rejoice I will declare

God is my victory and He is here

Verse 3:

And this is my prayer in the battle

And triumph is still on it's way

I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ

So firm on His promise I'll stand

Bridge:

All of my life

In every season

You are still God

I have a reason to sing

I have a reason to worship

Verse 4:

This is my prayer in the harvest

When favor and providence flow

I know I'm filled to be emptied again

The seed I've recieved I will sow

..........................sang by somebody who lost her baby just before doing the recording of this song