Our mission

"The church must be equipped to serve in the world precisely because it does not belong to the world. If we start with the world, the church will lose its mission. If we start with God, the church cannot refrain from giving its life for the world."
- R.Paul Stevens, professor at Regent College Vancouver

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Gone too soon

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If you love me you will keep my commandments

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Being effective without being perfect

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The key to contentment

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Bear fruit in keeping with repentance

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control; against such things there is no law.
- Galatians 5:22-23

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Guarding Your Heart

I attended a talk by David Holdaway (an Elim minister since 1984 and currently based in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales earlier today on "Guarding Your Heart". I was tremendously blessed by it and felt led to share what he shared.


1. Why is it important to guard our hearts?
The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). We can justify everything in our lives if we look hard enough for a reason. "I couldn't help it" is often quoted as an excuse - a husband cheating on his wife or a wife cheating on her husband says "I couldn't help it. I've fallen in love with the other person". How can something that seems so right be so wrong? But the fact of the matter is that we can help it because it's a choice we make.


Reflection:
- When God says no, do we still go ahead regardless?
- Are we doing what we want to do or are we doing what God asks us to do?


2. What happens when we don't close the doors of sin to our hearts?
When we don't guard our hearts, we're subject to sin and the consequences that come with it.


Example: A man is sitting inside an airplane. He decided to press the "do not press" button and an exit door of the airplane is opened. He jumps and then says: "I can't help it - I'm falling because of the law of gravity!" Yes, at that point, he can't help it because he's now subject to the law of gravity but the important thing to note is that he should not have opened the exit door in the first place.


Life is about choices and consequences: good choices bring about good consequences. It's not the circumstances per se but how we respond to the circumstances and whether we let them take root in our hearts.


If we make good choices, we reap good consequences; if we make bad ones, there could be hell to pay.


The things that have captured our hearts determine our actions and our words, and ultimately, our lives. When our hearts are not aligned with God, everything else in our lives will also not be aligned with God's purposes.


The head determines what we think; the heart determines how we think. What we love influences what we think.


Reflection:
- What has captured the passion of ours hearts?
- Are there any idols that have replaced God's place in our hearts? Money? (1 Timothy 6:9)
- How do we go about making good choices?


3. What are the dangers of a divided heart?
The heart is the gateway to our spirit. It either pollutes or purifies our spirit; weakens or strengthens our spirit; and draws us away or draws us closer to God.


Character example: Solomon - his divided heart (lust of the flesh) led eventually to a divided kingdom.


Character example: Daniel - he purposed in his heart to follow God.


If we have a divided heart, we will have a divided mind.


The path back from a divided heart is repentance - being broken before God and seeking God again. Floyd McClung (author of The Father Heart of God) had this revelation at one stage when he was leading a mega-church with a successful ministry: "I had an evangelical mind with a Babylonian heart." He repented before God.


4. How do we cultivate an undivided heart for God? And how do we guard our hearts?
We can know God through a personal relationship with Him. God made Himself known through Christ. It's possible to be intellectually brilliant and yet spiritually ignorant.


We guard our hearts by dealing with our issues quickly, developing a thankful heart, learning to keep our hearts inspired through the Bible and testimonies as well as worship and praise, and spending time with God in prayer and meditation.


The renewing of our mind is not adding new information but changing how we think, that is, developing the mind of Christ. (Romans 12:2)


5. What does it mean to have a heart after God?
God would rather use a soldier who wants to fight rather than a general who wants to retire; it's not about the level but the direction and having the burning passion to be more and more like Christ.


The parable of the sower: the seed was the same; it was the soil that determined the harvest. Our heart determines the harvest in our lives; good soil is clean, pure and deep.


Reflection:
- Where are our hearts at? When you're tempted and you know you won't get caught, what you do next will be determined by your heart.
- The Devil thinks he can buy us at a price; he thought so of Jesus by tempting Him three times (Matthew 4:1-11). Would we say no to the Devil if he comes at us with a very attractive offer? Would we refuse to be bought at any price? (Luke 12:34)


6. Prayer points
- Lord, completely captivate our hearts. We are a work in progress. Let us pursue You with an undivided heart. Amen.
- Psalm 51
- 1 Peter 3:8
- Matthew 6:21

Contemplation

Passed 10 books to a church friend, and so allowed myself the purchase of this book. Merton and Nouwen are two of my favourite Catholic authors. Really looking forward to what God will reveal to me through Merton's words.

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The Church of Christ

I attended a city@prayer session at the Arcade during lunch on Wednesday. The lady leading the session mentioned one of the prayer items - the need to pray for God's forgiveness on behalf of churches in Singapore. She mentioned the fact that some churches have discouraged or even banned foreign workers from their services because of their skin colour and body odour. This filled me with tremendous grief and anger because if that is the kind of church that Singapore is breeding, I want no part in it.


Through His blood shed on the cross and His resurrection, Jesus has thrown open heaven and offered eternal salvation and life to whoever shall repent of their sins, invite Him into their hearts as their personal Saviour and become a disciple by following Him all the days of their lives. How dare we, his believers, erect entry barriers to His church on earth! 


Lord, forgive us, forgive us, forgive us.

Their works follow them

I recently started reading the Revival Study Bible, starting from Genesis, and am already extremely edified by it. The Bible's general editors are William Pratney, Steve Hill and Tamara Winslow. It contains notes and articles about revivalists throughout history and has short biographies of them. These men and women of faith include Tozer, Spurgeon, Moody, Aimee McPherson, Evan Roberts, Heidi Baker, James Hudson Taylor, Jonathan Edwards, John Sung, John Wesley, Maria Woodworth-Etter, Smith Wigglesworth, Watchman Nee and many more. 

Even when I was typing their names above, I felt a bit emotional. The current generation of Christians has seen further because we are standing on the shoulders of these giants. They cultivated the ground which we are now harvesting, and I pray that we will also do our part in cultivating new ground for future generations. 

I will share some of their words as and when I feel led as I read this study bible over this year.

"Brethren it cannot be too strongly impressed on every mind that the decisive characteristic of true religion is energy, not apathy; that its vital essence is life,  not death." 

- Charles Grandison Finney

"Outside of the ark, all was ruin, but inside all was rest and peace. Without Christ, we perish, but in Christ Jesus, there is perfect safety."

- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

This is our God

Your presence in me
Jesus light the way
By the power of Your Word
I am restored
I am redeemed
By Your Spirit I am free

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China: Christianity's best bet?

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.


Excerpts:
Officially atheist, Communist China is witnessing a massive rise in religiosity. Recent surveys have found that one in every three Chinese consider themselves to be religious.


According to China Aid, a US-based human rights group, the number of Christians in China has increased 100-fold since the PRC was founded. Current estimates range from 80 million to 130 million active Christians, including members of so-called house churches. In a country of 1.3 billion that figure may not seem too high, but its significance becomes more apparent when compared to the 78 million Chinese that China Daily reports were members of the Communist Party as of June 2010.


"The Cultural Revolution disillusioned Chinese people and the brainwashing atheist education made people thirsty [for] spirituality," says Mark Shan, the spokesperson for China Aid.


Some experts believe that China could soon be home to the largest Christian population in the world.

What is your faith standing on?

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Jesus, Name Above All Names

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Fear not, for He is with us always

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