Book Review: An Undivided Heart by Rita J. Platt

My Review:
Although this book is primarily written for women as a bible study material, as I reviewed it, I felt a gentle nudging in my heart too, to experience a deeper satisfaction in God's fountain of love. My heart leaped for joy in knowing, experiencing God's love. As I savored the Lord's feast, served through this book, I can't help, but conclude that this book, although originally written for women, is also a book for men too. After all, we as humans, collectively known as the Church, is the bride of Christ longing for the love of the Bridegroom.

As the name suggests, this book is not to be read through quickly, but it is a bible study book, to be enjoyed, to be savored slowly.

Basically, week 1 starts off with knowing and experiencing the truth that we are the object of God's love. He longs to capture our hearts. He wants us to know that we are His beloved.
As Simon Tugwell said:

"So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about it - He is looking for us."

Week 2 deals with the hindrances that block us from reaching the intimate relationship with God. Rita gently helps us to dissect through the dark layers of our hearts; helping us to allow ourselves to expose our everything to God. As mentioned in the book, at times, we ourselves are our own enemy. We are unable to forgive ourselves, thereby block the flow of God's love. God wants us to enter into that complete freedom that He has prepared for us.

If Week 2 is about our past guilts and hurts that hinder us from reaching out to God's love, Week 3 is about us seeking approval from others, performing to impress and please others.

As David Benner said:
"There is no true life apart from relationship with God. Therefore, there can be no true self apart from this relationship. The foundation of our identity resides in our life-giving relationship with the Source of life. Any identity that exists apart from this relationship is an illusion."

And as Rita, the author, points out, though it is not wrong to receive affirmation from others, it is when our desire for approval from others rules us, when our pride erects an image or when we demand recognition which is really an empty cistern from which no water is available (Jer 2:13).

Week 4 is about voices and noises. Often times, there are so many noises and voices competing for our attention that we can totally miss out the still small voice of God. We need to be silent before Him. Be still to hear His voice. As Week 4 is about noises, Week 5 is about attention. Too often, many things caught our attention, and we can become easily distracted by things that never truly satisfy. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus.

Week 6 is about being satisfied. Often when we come to realize that nothing else truly satisfies, it dawns upon us that He is our True Living Water. We return to the Fountain of Life as often as we desire.

Week 7 is about being held. Being held by the Love that refuse to let us go. As we "hold on" to Him, we realize that it is He who is holding on to us. We, therefore, need to constantly create that awareness that Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise.

Week 8, the final week in this study, is about being betrothed. It is about living as the Beloved. It is about being loved, more than we can ever imagine.

As Henri Nouwen said:
"Everytime you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert. Once you've touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper."

In summary, I am convinced that, except for the fact that the almost all the illustrations used in this book are stories of women, this book is definitely for men too. Men who are aware of their thirst for the Savior and Lord.


A synopsis:
Some of the points that I have penned down from the Bible Study book An Undivided Heart by Rita J. Platt:

An Undivided Heart
(An 8-Week Bible Study for Today's Woman)
- by Rita J. Platt

Week 1 To Know Him is To Love Him
Rita started off with a question for us to ponder:
How would you describe your heart today?

What type of symbol would you use?
- Waters that seem tranquil until stirred up
- A puzzle with a few pieces missing or out of place
- A clouded mirror
- A scuba diver exploring the depths of the sea
- A thirsty runner panting for a break

Jesus came in pursuit of our whole heart. He didn't wait for you to come looking for Him. He wants you to belong to Him, to give your hand to Him, to embark on an eternal love relationship.

"So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about it - He is looking for us." - Simon Tugwell.

Verses to study:
Luke 1:31
Luke 2:11
John 1:29
1 Cor 10:4
Rev 1:8
Rev 19:16
Matt 19:13-15
Luke 7:11-17
John 13:1-17

No one ever cared for me like Jesus
There's no other friend so kind as he
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me
Oh how much he cares for me.

O Living Flame of Love..........
How gently and how lovingly
Thou wakest in my bosom,
Where alone thou secretly dwellest;
And in Thy sweet breathing
Full of grace and glory
How tenderly Thou fillest me with thy love.
- John of the Cross

Week 2 Complete Freedom
Study Mark 5:25-34

At times, we ourselves can be our worst enemy. We may block forward momentum by subjecting ourselves to peronal condemnation.

"One of the greatest challenges of the spiritual life is to receive forgiveness. There is something in us humans that keeps us clinging to our sins and prevents us from letting God erase our past and offer us a completely new beginning.....receiving forgiveness requires a total willingness to let God be God and to all the healing, restoring and renewing."
- Henri Nouwen

Study Mark 5:25-34

Week 3 Shaped By Perfect Love

Rita started off Chapter 3 with the illustration of an except from The Velveteen Rabbit:

"What is real?" asked the toy Rabbit, one day......"Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made,"said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long time, not just to play with REALLY loves you, then you become REAL"

Many of us live with unnecessary disability, living for the approval of others.
We perform to impress, and when it seems that we have succeeded in doing so, we go away ashamed and empty.
We spend a lot time and effort trying to keep everyone around us happy.

As a result we may experience fear of displeasing others. We fear of being:
- exposed
- rejected
- made insignificant
- disconnected

We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day--our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life--fear of death, fear of judgment--is one not yet fully formed in love. We, though, are going to love--love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
(1Jn 4:16-19 MSG)

"Like runaway slaves, we either flee our own reality or manufacture a false self which is mostly admirable , mildly prepossessing, and superficially happy. We hide what we know or feel ourselves to be (which we assume to be unacceptable and unlovable) behind some kind of appearance which we hope will be more pleasing. We hide behind pretty faces which we put on for the benefit of our public. And in time we even come to forget that we are hiding, and think that our assumed pretty face is what we really look like." - Simon Tugwell

"There is no true life apart from relationship with God. Therefore, there can be no true self apart from this relationship. The foundation of our identity resides in our life-giving relationship with the Source of life. Any identity that exists apart from this relationship is an illusion." - David Benner

Even in times when we've lost sight of our true self, the Lord sees us and can help us see who we are in Him (Rom 8:1-2, 2Cor 5:17-21, Eph 1:3, 4, 5-6, 7, 11, 13, 2:6, 2:10, 3:12).

As Rita points out, though it is not wrong to receive affirmation from others, it is when our desire for approval from others rules us, when our pride erects an image or when we demand recognition which is really an empty cistern from which no water is available (Jer 2:13).

Some of the masks we tend to wear:
- clown
- pain free
- superman/superwoman
- thick-skinned
- no needs
- doormat
- perfect
- ultra-spiritual

"Grace to you and peace are my gifts to you and all my children. You have been seeking grace from people, believing it will bring peace. It never does. Only entering more and more deeply into the reality of my grace will bring genuine peace of heart you are dying for.
I already died for it.
And I rose so you would know it's true.
And I have the power to make it true for you.
Hear me.
Believe me.
Learn to rest in the peace of my grace." - Sandra Wilson

Week 4 Awaken To His Voice

Pivotal times of decision making might not characterize our typical day. There is constant competition for our attention. It is challenging to wake up to a silent place where we can hear our Beloved speak. It is as if we must continually fends off a multitude of voices trying to embed themselves in our hearts like secret agents of distortion. We fight the noise that threatens to lure us away or to block out the voice of Jesus.

Life seems to rush past and swirl around us.
We need to be silent before Him.
We need to allow ourselves to be interrupted.
Psalm 46:10

But as Dallas Willard said:
"Silence is frightening because it strips us as nothing else does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our life"

Week 5 Adoring Gaze
Where do you focus your eyes when life gets challenging?
What happens to your energy level, your heart, and your mind when your eyes drift? What helps you to fix your eyes on Jesus?
Luke 7:36-50

"Jesus, the very thought of thee, With sweetness fills my breast; But sweeter far thy face to see, And in thy presence rest."
- John B. Dykes, Jesus the Very Thought of Thee, 1823-1876

Week 6 Wholly Satisfied
Sometimes we fear being alone.
So we work our way to control our surroundings, and others' opinions of us.
We desire to make everything OK all the time, so that we will never need to fear abandonment.
But those desires are misplaced.

"If you are starving and can find nothing to satisfy your hunger, then come. Come, and you will be filled." - Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ

Isaiah 55:1-3
Isaiah 58:11
Matthew 11:28
Revelation 22:17
Deuteronomy 8:10

Enjoy the following life feast of scripture bites
Psalm 103:1-4
Isaiah 58:11
Matthew 5:6
John 4:14
John 6:35, 48-51
John 15:11
Ephesians 3:19
Ephesians 5:18
Philippians 4:12-13, 19
1 Tim 1:14

Week 7: Hold on Tight
In our spiritual walk, we are to hold on tight to the Lord and rest in Him.
Deut 30:19-20
The word "hold fast" - dabaq, carries the meaning of "to cling to, to stick, to stay close, to stick to, to follow closely"

See also Psalm 63:8

Study Matthew 14:22-33
Try imagining you are in the situation.
Draw a graph tracing the disciples' emotions from the time Jesus told them to get in the boat until He joined them and they worshipped Him. Draw a graph depicting Peter's emotions.

Psalm 46:10
Psalm 18:16
Isaiah 40:11
Matthew 8:3, 15, 17:7
Mark 10:16
Luke 13:10-13; 15:4-6
John 10:28

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
(From: Breastplate of St. Patrick)

Week 8: Living As Beloved
Life is a gift and living it out is also a gift, each day pulling up lies and becoming more rooted in truth, resting in our place as the beloved. Using Psalm 86, as a guide, ask the Lord to deal with the hollow and deceptive philosophies that threaten you.

"We are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehent it. No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them. It is only with the help of his grace that we are able to persevere in spiritual contemplation with endless wonder at his high, surpassing, immeasurably love which our Lord in his goodness has for us." - Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

Song of Songs 2:4
I am [insert your name], the beloved of Jesus
Whisper it
Repeat it over and over.
Shout it with delight from rooftops. Journal it any ways you can.

"Everytime you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert. Once you've touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper." - Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved.

Matt 3:17, 17:5
Luke 9:35
2 Peter 1:17
Col 2:6-8

Six lessons I learned today from the life of John Maxwell

While reviewing Chapter 5 of John C. Maxwell's 2010 book (available for reading online currently), I learned great truths from a rare life story of John as told by Charlie Wetzel [someone who has worked personally with John for quite a long time].

From that piece, I learned six lessons.

Six lessons I learned today from the life of John Maxwell:

1. Be generous with your praise to others where praise is due

2. No matter how bad someone has performed, there is always something positive you can affirm him for. Be on the lookout for his strength.

3. Be real and authentic - let others know that you are aware of your weaknesses and you are just as human as they are

4. Be humble - there is always lessons you can learn from others no matter who they are

5. Empower others. I do not need to micro-manage. Give others the space for them to develop the potential that they have inside them.

6. Treat each speaking engagement, or for that matter, any job assignment, seriously and with respect. Do your homework.

Book Review: How To Stay Christian In High School by Steve Gerali

General comments:

"How To Stay Christian In High School" by Steve Gerali is a simple to read, straight forward, with many nuggets of biblical wisdom. It is written with great clarity, and with a modern twist to familiar biblical stories that opens up fresh, new understanding that can certainly connect with young people in our generation. With a mere 127 pages and a total of six chapters, it can be read even in one or two sittings.

Very readable. Challenging. And although this book is meant for high school Christians, I find that this book is equally challenging to Christians from all walks of life.

Lessons I learned from this book:

Chapter 1 starts off with knowing our identity in Christ. Before we can fully understand who we are, we need to know whose we are - to whom we belong to. The author then goes on to outline three significant implications of knowing whose we are:
- Knowing whose we are implies ownership (Romans 5:12-19)
- Knowing whose we are implies sonship (Galatians 4:3-7)
- Knowing whose we are implies partnership (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)

I like this part when, after stating Romans 8:35-39, the author poses out six "what if" doubts that we often allow to come in between us and God's love:

But what if I did .............................................?
But what if I said ............................................?
But what if I thought ......................................?
But what if I went ...........................................?
But what if I tried ...........................................?
But what if I ....................................................?

The author says: "No matter what you put in those blanks ... God would still love you."

Chapter 2 focuses on Mary - the importance of building a firm foundation in Jesus Christ. It starts off with an illustration of two men building their houses, both of the same material but at different locations - one on top of the cliff, and the other right in front of the beach just because he loved surfing so much. Although the man who built his house near the beachfront might boast and pitied his friend for having to climb up and down, and although the man who built the house up on the cliff may sometimes doubt whether he had made the wrong choice or should he had taken a short cut like his friend below, there will come a time when the hurricance will come and blow off the house of the man below. (1 Cor 3:11-15 NIV)

To stay Christian in college days, we need to have a strong foundation. The storms hit both houses with the same intensity both houses build on two different foundations. The outcome depends on our foundations.

To quote the author:
"If you have Christ, you have everything. If you don't have Christ, everything that you have is nothing. You identity must be built upon the solid rock of Jesus......Your identity is the core of your character. It is who you are, the person who's still there when everything else is taken away and when nobody sees you. It is shaped by the things you allow yourself to be influenced by, day by day. It is developed by the values you believe in and hold dear." - Steve Gerali

Certainly I agree when the author says that anyone can say that "I will die for Jesus!", but if you are really willing to die for Jesus, then certainly you are willing to LIVE for Him. You will deny some things for Him. You will be willing to be embarassed for Him.

The author then proceeds to elaborate on the story of Mary, an average teenaged Jewish girl, whom, customary of her age at that time, was arranged to be married to be Joseph.
Being an average teenage girl, her life would probably be pretty much routine like any other girls of her age during her time.

So, we can imagine her reaction when the angel Gabriel came witht the salutation in Luke 1:26-38. How do you think Mary would have felt? Freaked out? Scared? Although we do not know whether Mary had, prior to that encounter, made a commitment to dedicate her life to God. But let's say, even if she did commit her life to God earlier on, this encounter with the angel Gabriel and the task of being pregnant is never part of what she sign up for. It certainly was not part of what she expected...this is totally unexpected.

Even after Mary had finally come to grip with the fact that this pregnancy was indeed true, next challenge that she had to face: how is she going to tell her parents about this pregnancy?
As the author had said, there has not been any case God himself impregnates anyone. What if daddy didn't believe such superfluous claim? What if her family suspected she was flirting around outside? What if the neighbours gossip about her "shame" in a Jewish upbringing?

Mary was risking huge rejection from her family. Mary risked misunderstanding.

The third challenge Mary faced: What about her growing uterus? This would mean that she would never get to wear her cute dresses anymore, but rather she would need to wear her maternity dress. What about the morning sicknesses she might be experiencing? What about the pimples? What about the leg swelling? The extra weight gain?

Next, would be the rejection she would possibly have to face from Joseph. Although this was an arranged marriage, Mary probably had grown to love Joseph and vice-versa. But Mary knew that she must consider losing Joseph and the marriage called off.

From I have learned in Chapter 2, to be a Christian, means
1/ to expect the unexpected
2/ to be willing to be inconvenienced
3/ to risk facing rejections from family and friends aroumd
4/ to be willing to die to self, self-interest, plans, etc.

At the back of Chapter 2, the author asked some thought-provoking questions:
When have you been the most misunderstood? How did you cope with the feelings?
How has God re-arrranged your plans for life? For college? Are there things in your life that you had to give up in order to maintain your identity as a believer? If so what are they?

Chapter 3 is about Daniel
Daniel 1 describes how Nebuchadnezzar, after becoming king of Babylon, swept into Palestine and surrounded Jerusalem and took many of Jerusalem's wisest men and most beautiful women to Babylon as captives. Daniel was among this group.

In Babylon, Daniel stayed far from his parents, in the sophisticaded Babylon of that time.
No parents to control.
Yet Daniel did not compromise.
New found freedom.
Yet Daniel did not abuse the freedom.

How about us?
Would you still obey the curfew even when your parents are not around?
Or would you compromise a bit, drop your guard a little? (Romans 12:1-2)

Bad influence usually creep in subtly.
"Even the smallest compromises are dangerous.
They lead to more and more compromise - and we may end up with a big problem."

As the author has pointed out, no one in his right mind would one day, when he wakes up, says to himself that he is going to destroy his life, or determined to get addicted to alcohol, etc.
God gave wisdom to Daniel what to say to the guards (verses 11-15).
The author suggests that we should take a look (or make a list) of some of the little things in our own life these days?

Question: Are you the influencer or the influenced?
The key lies in verse 8 (Dan 1:8): Daniel had MADE UP HIS MIND
We need to make up our mind ..way up front.
Daniel resolved not to.....

Question:
When are you most tempted to compromise?
What makes it harder to resist?
What makes it easier to resist?

What are some of the areas in which popularity and doing the right things have come into conflict in your life?

Chapter 4 is about Joseph when he was facing temptations as described in Genesis 39:6-10

Joseph had a right perspective about things (verse 9). Joseph said Potiphar has given all these things...but the sin would be against God. Joseph had a God-honoring perspective.

The key to overcoming temptation is in verse 12 (Gen 39:12): FLEE!!
Without explanation, Joseph bolted out of there.
He did not worry about whether he hurt her feelings.
He did not stay to enjoy some of it, and then draw the line when it starts to go too far.
He does not rationalize things.

Chapter 5 is about James and John, where as Chapter 6 is about Timothy.

The Replacement Principle:
I also like the Replacement Principle that the author describes. It works like this: If you want something out of your life, don't work hard to remove it. Instead, pour in something else that pushes it out. Replace something bad with something godly. To stay Christian in high school, replace rotten stuff in your life with good stuff.

Conclusion
In short, the author highligted a key lesson for each of the chapters:
Chapter 1: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, be absolutely certain WHOSE you are.

Chapter 2: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, you can't turn an identity on or off; make Jesus the foundation of who you are.

Chapter 3: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, step AROUND the moral land mines to avoid compromise at all cost

Chapter 4: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, constantly monitor your MIND-MENU - and leave temporary pleasures behind

Chapter 5: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, you have to be willing to allow Jesus to gradually replace the rotten stuff with the good stuff

Chapter 6: If you want to stay as a Christian in high school, don't be perfect, just be dependent on Jesus.

The Need to Re-Align Myself Regularly

Hebrews 13:5 indeed is a timely reminder to myself:

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”*(Heb 13:5, NLT)

In other words, it is a declaration that God is my enough. He is my rich resource. He is my source of strength.

Yet, in this age, where we are constantly being bombarded with choices, temptations are everywhere and we can easily drawn away. It has to be a daily deliberate decision on our part to remind ourselves – God the enough!

I find that taking short “breaks”, distancing myself from what I am engrossed in, constantly asking myself “Why am I doing this?” is a good way for me to re-focus myself and re-aligning my priorities.

Speaking To Impress or Speaking To Impact?

John Maxwell reminds us that if you want to impress people, you can talk about your successes, but if you want people to identify with you, it is better to talk about your failures.

Sometimes, I have to admit that the ulterior motive of me speaking is to impress the crowd with how much I know. And this is dangerous: the moment we start feeding ourselves with the praise and adulation from others, we will yearn for more. We may end up losing the focus of our speaking – and that is to impart information to others.

I have seen speakers who keep on speaking on highly specialized and advanced stuffs that the crowds can’t follow, and this happens despite knowing the fact that the crowds are getting lost and disinterested.

Being in a position of leadership and a position of power as a lecturer, I need to remind myself that I may be able to keep a crowd, but I may not be able to keep a follower, if I am not connecting.

Bible vs. Cell Phone

Bible vs. Cell phone

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we flipped through it several times a day?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?

What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?

What if we used it when we traveled?

What if we used it in case of emergency?

This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?

Oh, and one more thing..

Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.

Makes you stop and think 'where are my priorities?' And no dropped calls!

Note: I got this post from Gabriel Matthew Fletcher

Book Review: Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs

In Love and Respect, Emerson Eggerichs uses Ephesians 5:33 "However, each one of you [husband] also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband (Ephesians 5:33 NIV)" and dissected it to show that the love a wife longs for and the respect a husband yearns for mutually compliments each other in order to build a solid foundation of a marriage.

In Chapter One, the author shared on how, as a pastor, out of his need to counsel couples, that in 1998, God gave him the insight to see the inter-connectivity between love and respect. In that chapter too, the author is honest enough to share with the readers of his own difficult times he had with his wife, Sarah. The author made no attempt to hide his own weaknesses or appears as one whose marriage is perfect, without struggles. As the author said, the problem with life is that it is so daily, so routine that we may take our spouses for granted.

The first seven chapters form the first part and this basically deals with some of the common problems husbands and wives face. While it is good that the author shared many real life examples, nevertheless, I find that there are just too many testimonies and stories. And this has made the reading of this part very tedious and lengthy. Probably the author could have saved some of these testimonies to be included in an online supplementary section or in a blog or in the Love and Respect website (http://www.loveandrespect.com/), etc. Having too many testimonies tend to result in a loss of focus of the gist of the message.

Part 2 (chapters 8 - 22) is about the energizing cycle, where the author spelled out the six aspects of the love that a husband needs to show to his wife, and the six aspects of the respect that the wife ought to give to her husband.

The love that a husband should show to his wife can be defined by the acronym C-O-U-P-L-E:
C - Closeness
O - Openness
U - Understanding
P - Peacemaking
L - Loyalty
E - Esteem

The respect that a wife should give to her husband can be defined by the acronym C-H-A-I-R-S
C - Conquest (appreciate the husband's desire to work and achieve)
H - Hierarchy (appreciate the husband's desire to protect)
A - Authority (appreciate the husband's desire to serve and to lead)
I - Insight (appreciate the husband's desire to analyze and counsel)
R - Relationship (appreciate the husband's desire for shoulder-to-shoulder relationship)
S - Sexuality (appreciate the husband's desire for sexual intimacy)

The author elaborated each aspect of "C-O-U-P-L-E" and "C-H-A-I-R-S" in a chapter each.

A side note: on page 156, the author said that God intended for some conflict to exist in a marriage. When my wife and I sat down together to discuss on this, we find it hard to agree with the author on this statement. While God can turn a conflict into a victory, conflict exists, rather, as a result of the Fall back in Genesis.

I have always been cautious of books that offer "a number of" steps to success, "a number of" steps to overcome bad habits, etc. We must not be over-simplistic. Some of the problems that exist in a marriage could have deeper roots than what they appears to be. It could be due to past sins, past painful memories, past bad experiences in a previous marriage, previous traumatic experiences like being raped, etc. For such cases, simply applying these steps may not work; rather in such cases, forgiveness, emotional healing, counseling, etc is needed.

Nonetheless, I still do find this book to be pretty useful. To me personally, the greatest value of this book lies in the concrete and specific suggestions and steps found at the back of each of the chapters in Part 2. I find these suggestions to be very helpful, and can be easily turn into a-resolution-a-day kind of exercise. In other words, this book is actually more of a "to-do" book rather than a "to-read" book. As such, this book, should be more concise, direct to the point, focused, trimmed down, and should include more interactive features and questions for the readers to think and to reflect as they go along.

Feeling Inadequate?

Jeremiah’s Call and First Visions (Jeremiah 1:4-10 NLT)

4 The Lord gave me this message:

5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.

Before you were born I set you apart

and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

6 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”

7 The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” 9 Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said,

“Look, I have put my words in your mouth!

10 Today I appoint you to stand up

against nations and kingdoms.

Some you must uproot and tear down,

destroy and overthrow.

Others you must build up

and plant.”

This passage in Jeremiah 1 on Jeremiah’s call also reminds me of my own situation.

Being called to preach in church as a lay leader at age 35 years old, sometimes I must say I really feel inadequate. Although it is a small church, I still do feel the inadequacy, but yet, if we were to wait for the “right” time, the moment may never arrive. Our feelings of inadequacy may cripple us. When will we ever be ready, if we were to wait for the right recipe, the right formula, as judged according to our own timing?

If God says can, who am I to say can’t? That’s why knowing that I am known is important. Knowing who I belong to, gives me a sense of confidence to move forward.

Observing the Sabbath: Am I Deceiving Myself?

25 Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 26 He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.”

27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”
(Mark 2:23-27 NLT)

In this age where we are constantly being bombarded with overloading amount of information, all the more we need to take a day off to be still with the Lord. To wait for Him. To linger in His presence. To be renewed. To be restored.

For me, personally at least, I know, I needed to observe the Sabbath. I know sometimes I am deceiving myself, thinking as if I am observing the Sabbath by staying away from my workplace physically, but my mind is still occupied with the workload, and even bringing back stacks of paperwork to do.

How should I live in this evil world?

11 For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. 12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, 13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. 14 He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. (Titus 2:11-14, NLT)

Sometimes when I look at the evil, injustice, corruption, inequality of treatment, dirty political tactics, both in my country and around the world, I get very dejected, discouraged, and disappointed. Is there any reason for living in my country? Yet, these verses show us that:

“11 For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. 12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, 13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed…”

We are INSTRUCTED, we are commanded, we are exhorted to live a life of
- wisdom
- righteous
- devoted to God.

Why? Because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Unless we know who we really are, our identity, and our position, we can be easily swayed away.

Finishing what You Have Started

11 Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have. 12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. (2 Cor 8:11-12, NLT)

I am drawn to the word “finish”, or in some translation “to complete”. It is often easy to start something, to promise something, but to complete, needs perseverance.

Everyone can start a new project, a new blog, a new decision, a new resolution, but how many can follow through til completion.

Along the road, there may be many obstacles, many challenges, many things that distract us from the important things of our lives.

I need to remind myself of important things to me:
1. God - is my relationship with Him affected?
2. Family - is my relationship with my family members taken its tolls due to my busyness in the workplace, being too ambitious, being wanting to do too many things that distract me from my real focus.
3. Then only it comes to my work.

And that’s when we need to depend on the Lord, rather than on ourselves. We need to go to Him daily. I find it impossible to live the Christian life on my own strength.

In verse 12, “give according to what you have…”, in other words, if we have not first received from Him, how can we give? The giving of course, could means more than just financial giving. It could also means giving of our time, our talent, our attention. Have I first received from Him?

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

(These are some of my thoughts I have made as comments to Chapter 3 of John Maxwell's forthcoming book)

John Maxwell says: "Many times each year I am engaged as a speaker..... often I request a call with someone in the organization prior...to learn the expectations of my host... My goal is never to simply deliver a speech. I want to add value to people...I always spend time tailoring what I’m going to say to fit what they need."


From personal experience, oftentimes, what determine whether I will successfully connect with my students or not is not really the contents of the lecture (though that is important); but rather, whether I am REAL or not.

I personally experienced and believe that people can see through you, beyond your talk, beyond your slides, beyond your outward appearance. They can see whether you are really genuinely care for them and concern for their performance and grades, or whether you are just up there to showcase how much you know.

At times, really, action speaks louder than words. Respect has got to be earned. When you earn their respect, you win the right to hold their ears for your talk.

In that book, John Maxwell quoted television executive, communication consultant and author Roger Ailes for the seven-second rule to make the first impression:

"You’ve got just seven seconds to make the right first impression. As soon as you make your entrance, you broadcast verbal and nonverbal signals that determine how others see you. In business, those crucial first seven seconds can decide whether you will win that new account, or succeed in a tense negotiation." I personally think we have got more than 7 seconds but no more than, probably, first 5 – 10 minutes to make that first impression. Within the first five to 10 minutes, they will decide whether you are worth their attention or not. You can force their presence in the room or hall, but you can’t force their attention and mind to your talk.

“People will not always remember what you said. They will not always remember what you did. But, they will always remember how you made them feel.” - Mike Harrison

I walked a mile with Pleasure

My comments:
Although I like this quote, I do not believe that all pleasures are bad. Some pleasures are legitimate. James 1:17-18 says: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." It is the lustful, illegitimate pleasure that we should be careful of.

I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser,
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne'er a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

- Robert Browning Hamilton

Into The Arms of Divine Love

As soon as I woke in the morning I threw myself into the arms of Divine Love as a child does into its father's arms. I rose to serve Him, and to perform my daily labor simply that I might please Him.

If I had time for prayer, I fell on my knees in His divine presence, consecrated myself to Him, and begged Him that He would accomplish His holy will perfectly in me and through me, and that He would not permit me to offend Him in the least thing all through the day.

I occupied myself with Him and His praise as long as my duties permitted. Very often, I had not leisure to say even so much as the Lord's Prayer during the day; but that did not trouble me. I thought it as much my duty to work for Him as to pray to Him, for He Himself had taught me, that all that I should do for love of Him would be a true prayer.

I loved Him and rejoiced in Him. If my occupations required all my attention, I had nevertheless my heart turned towards Him; and, as soon as they were finished, I ran to Him again, as to my dearest Friend.

When evening came, and every one went to rest, I found mine only in the Divine Love, and fell asleep, still loving and adoring Him.
--ARMELLE NICOLAS

Psalm 23 Explained

(This post was from an email forwarded to me by Gabriel Matthew Fletcher. Thanks Gabriel!)

The Lord is my Shepherd = That's Relationship!
I shall not want = That's Supply!
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures = That's Rest!
He leadeth me beside the still waters = That's Refreshment!
He restoreth my soul = That's Healing!
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness = That's Guidance!
For His name sake = That's Purpose!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death = That's Testing!
I will fear no evil = That's Protection!
For Thou art with me = That's Faithfulness!
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me = That's Discipline!
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies = That's Hope!
Thou annointest my head with oil = That's Consecration!
My cup runneth over = That's Abundance!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life = That's Blessing!
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = That's Security!
Forever = That's Eternity!


Face it, the Lord is crazy about you.

Why Are So Many Speakers Fail to "Connect" With Their Audience? Some Humble Ramblings From Me

(Note: These random ramblings were my thoughts that I have posted at http://johnmaxwellonleadership.com as my comments to Chapter 2 of John Maxwell's new book to be published in 2010)

Although John Maxwell has stated immaturity and ego as 2 out of the 3 reasons why many people fail to connect, I think a deeper reason (especially within the context of public speaking) under-girding their immaturity and ego-centredness is INSECURITY, especially for new speakers. I can remember the first few times when I am asked to speak: I was literally shaking.

When the speaker is insecure, he will want to seek the approval from his audience. And the more he wants to seek approval from his audience, the more engrossed he is in his own self, and how he can impress others, and as a results, he is more likely to fail to meet the needs of the moments.

Communication is very fluid and dynamic. I can speak on the same lecture many times, but each group of audience has its own expressed and implied needs, and the dynamics of the communication would be totally unique and different.

Sometimes it depends very much on whether the speaker can "catch" the non-verbal cues being signaled and transmitted from the audience. A joke may sound funny to one group of audience but it can be not funny or even offensive to another group. For that reason, I believe jokes can never be re-cycled. We cannot tell the same joke in the same intonation, the same manner twice. For that matter, sometimes I find prepared jokes to be very artificial. Jokes have got to be spontaneous.

Another problem I find as a barrier to "connectedness" with audience is Power Point presentation. Sometimes power point presentation can paradoxically kills the spontaneity of the communication. Power point presentation can be a friend or a foe. I find it to be true with many speakers (and myself have made the same mistake too) that we speak for the sake of speaking. We are obsessed with the goal of finishing off the many slides we have prepared without really thinking whether the audience can understand the meaning or not.

Different audience will have different attention span (although a common rule of thumb would be no more than 45 minutes). For that matter, nowadays I am no longer dictated by my clock or by the number of slides I have prepared to know when to stop talking. I take it that the first audience member who yawns as a sign that I should finish off and wrap it up soon (usually to take 15 minutes or so although that is not a hard and fast rule).

Why are there so many Christian denominations?

Why are there so many Christian denominations?

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E-mail Tips from Michael Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Inc.

This post contains many tips that I have found useful and I have condensed them from three articles by Michael Hyatt, the President and CEO of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

E-MAIL ETIQUETTE
Suggestions for better e-mail communication and etiquette (Note: These pointers are taken and adapted from an article by Michael Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publisher. I do not list all 18 of his recommendations. I only list those that are, in my opinion, applicable to me. For a full description of his recommendations, click here):

1. Understand the difference between “To” and “CC.”
As a rule of thumb, the more people you send an email to, the less likely any single person will respond to it, much less perform any action that you requested.

The people you include in the “To” field should be the people you expect to read and respond to the message.

The “CC” field should be used sparingly. You should only CC people who have a need to stay in the know. The “BCC” field should be used even more sparingly. People you include in the “BCC” field will not visible to others.

2. Keep messages brief and to the point.
Make your most important point first, then provide detail if necessary. Make it clear at the beginning of the message why you are writing.

There is nothing worse for the recipient than having to wade through a long message to get to the point. Worse, if you send long messages, it is much less likely that the person will act on what you have sent or respond to it. It’s just too much work. It often gets set aside and, unfortunately, forgotten.

3. Don’t discuss multiple subjects in a single message.
If you need to discuss more than one subject, send multiple e-mails. This makes it easy to scan subject lines later to find the message you need. It also contributes to briefer e-mail messages and a greater likelihood of a response. Also, the more specific you can be about your subject heading, the better.

4. Reply in a timely manner.
E-mail does not demands an instantaneous response but you must reply in a timely manner, otherwise you will incrementally damage your reputation and decrease your effectiveness.

5. Be mindful of your tone.
Unlike face-to-face meetings or even phone calls, those who read your e-mail messages don’t have the benefit of your pitch, tone, inflection, or other non-verbal cues. As a result, you need to be careful about your tone. Sarcasm is especially dangerous. If something gets “lost in translation,” you risk offending the other party. The more matter-of-fact you can be, the better.

6. Don’t use e-mail to criticize others. E-mail is a terrific way to commend someone or praise them. It is not an appropriate medium for criticism. Chances are, you will simply offend the other person, and they will miss your point. These kinds of conversations are usually better handled face-to-face or, if necessary, over the phone. Especially, don’t use e-mail to criticize a third party. E-mail messages live forever. They are easily forwarded. You can create a firestorm of conflict if you are not careful.

7. Don’t reply in anger. In anger, we may have written things that we would never have the guts to say face-to-face. This is precisely why you should never ever fire off an e-mail in anger. They almost never serve their purpose or your long-term interests. They burn up relationships faster than just about anything you can do. If it makes you feel better, go ahead and write the message, then delete it.
Usually a day or two after you didn’t send an angry e-mail, you’ll understand the wisdom of restraint.

8. Don’t overuse “reply to all.” Example, personal information which may not be necessary for everyone to know.

9. Don’t forward chain letters. Nine times out of ten, the information is bogus. It is often urban legend. If you feel you absolutely must pass it on, please make sure that it is valid information. If in doubt, check it out at Snopes.com, a Web site devoted to tracking urban legends and rumors.

10. Don’t write in ALL CAPS.
This is the digital equivalent of shouting. Besides ALL CAPS are harder to read (as anyone in advertising will tell you.)

11. Don’t send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks. If you do so, you can put yourself or your company at risk. You could be sued for simply passing something along, even if you aren’t the original author.

12. Use a signature with your contact information. This is a courtesy for those receiving your messages. It also cuts down on e-mail messages, since people don’t have to send a second or third e-mail asking for your phone number or mailing address.

13. Use your spell-checker.
Take your correspondence seriously. It reflects on your professionalism and that of your company.

14. Re-read your e-mail before you send it.

HOW TO STAY ON TOP OF YOUR EMAIL?
Click here to read the entire article by Michael Hyatt.

1. Empty your inbox everyday. This must be your goal. You want to be able to go to sleep with every message processed. That doesn’t mean you answer every message. However, it does mean that you have processed every message. There’s a big difference between answered and processed.

2. Don’t get bogged down, keep moving. The key is that once you start processing your inbox, you must move quickly. Read each message once and answer this question: “Is this message actionable?” In other words, “Am I being asked to do something?”

A. If actionable, there are only three possible actions (3 Ds):

2.1. Do—take action on the task now. David Allen’s two-minute rule: If I can do what is being requested in less than two minutes, I do it immediately. This gets stuff off your to-do list before it ever gets on it. This has the added advantage of making you look responsive.

2.2. Delegate—pass the task along to someone else (if you are the boss or superior). Oftentimes someone else is better equipped to fulfill the sender’s request. Try to focus on where you add value and offload everything else.

2.3. Defer—consciously decide you will do the task later. This only applies to asks you cannot complete in two minutes or less or can’t delegate to someone else. You can either add the task to your to-do list or schedule an appointment with yourself to complete it.

B. If it is not actionable (i.e., the sender is not requesting that you do something), or not actionable any longer because you have taken action on it, then you have two options.

Delete—determine if you might need the information later. If not, delete it. My own assumption is that if it’s really important, someone, somewhere else in the world, has a copy of it.

File —if you think you might need the information, file it. But do not create an elaborate set of file folders. This is the single most important piece of advice I can give you. Just file everything in one folder, you may name it “Processed Mail", "Importance", "Worthy to keep..."

Every time you communicate, you are making a “brand impression”—for you—and for the organization you represent. What kind of impression are you making? Is it positive or negative?

What do your email messages say about you? (This section is adapted from an article by Michael Hyatt. Click here to read the article)

As most of communication today comprises of emails (90%) here are five ways to make a positive impression with your email messages:

1. Respond in a timely manner.
Aim to respond to all emails the same day I receive them.

2. Address the sender personally.
Don’t just start writing. Use the person’s name. Nothing is sweeter to the recipient’s ear than their own name. And in the age of unprecedented spam, using a person’s name indicates that you are a real person, not a robot.

3. Use proper grammar.
You don’t have to obsess about this, but observe the basics: use complete sentences, check your punctuation and spelling, and proofread your message. And please, don’t use ALL CAPS.

4. Keep the message short and your intention clear.
As a recipient, there is nothing worse than receiving a long message from someone, reading it, and still not knowing what the person wants or is saying. When in doubt, use short sentences, short paragraphs, and short messages.

5. Use a proper signature block.
Use your email program to create a standardized, email signature that includes your full name, logo, company, address, telephone numbers, website or blog, twitter handle, etc.

Blog a book review and get FREE book?

To date, I have found three sites that offer free books in return for the reviews that you write for their books:

1. By far, Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Program, to me, is the best. Simply request a book, and they will send you the book. Read it up critically, and write a constructive, fair and balance review. Click here to join. This program also has a self-regulating mechanism, in that, you can only request one book at one time, and may not request for another until you have posted your review. For some books, you also have to submit the review by a dateline. According to Michael Hyatt (the President and CEO of Thomas Nelson) their goal is to recruit 10,000 active bloggers to join the program.

2. Ligonier Ministries is a Reformed, evangelical, non-profit organization founded by renowned Calvinist theologian, R. C. Sproul. This site has a Blog For a Free Book program, but they will send a pdf copy to review first, and only send you the physical copy upon completion of your review; and everyone knows the difficulties to reading the entire book on your laptop screen. Click here to join.

3. NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators. They have a Blogger Review Program for their selected books. Enter the coupon code and the price of the book will be deducted down to the absolute $0.00. However, you still have to pay for the shipping fees and this can come up to be quite a lot if you are staying in a far away Asian country like me. Click here to join.

Benefits of joining a blogger book review program

Besides the advantage of getting the book you reviewed for free, you also get the chance to read other people's reviews, and in some sites (e.g. Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Program), you can also take advantage to use the free resources like cover art, video or audio clips (when available), external links to other related items, etc to include in your review. Another advantage is, by joining a blogger book review program, we can discipline ourselves to finish reading a book within a stipulated time.

How to write a review?

I have found two helpful articles with very practical tips. I have summarized the main points of the two articles here. For details, click here and here to read the articles in entirety.

1. Review title: Use the book title as a guide for your headline title and post slug

2. Introduce the book, author, and the topic in the first paragraph.

3. Keep it all simple, readable and maybe to less than 500 words (or depending on the stipulated number of words allowed by the specific website you intend to send your review to)

4. It doesn’t have to be a seminary-worthy book critique or sophisticated. Take out your academic formality, just tell us about the book, how it impacted you and interact with the content.

5. Include what you liked (or loved), what you disliked (or hated). Rate it too.

6. One of the best ways to give a short review is to talk about one chapter specifically.

7. Give practical takeaways. “On page 13, he talks about this great marketing idea, so I implemented it in my church and saw [number] of people fill out guest cards, etc.”

8. Add an appropriate category, like “leadership.”

9. After you’re done, read through and do a quick edit of your post before publishing.

10. Include two or three related books in bullet points form that people could check out (including your Amazon links in those as well)

11. If you have time and the book you're supposed to read is interesting-read the whole thing.

12. While you're reading take notes (either by highlighting the book or jot down in pieces of paper) of whatever strikes you as interesting or powerful, or wrong.

13. Start writing your review whenever something you read triggered your thoughts or opinion. Continue reading the book. Continue writing.

14. But what if you do not have enough time? You can still write a great review even if you do not have time to read the whole book, or if it's boring. In that case, make sure to read as many of the beginning chapters as you can. Then read the book from behind, as much as you can. While doing that, remember step 12, make as many notes as possible (either positive or negative way). After reading the front and the back, skim the rest of the book to connect the dots.

The Faith of Moses' Parents

By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. (Heb 11:23 NIV).

Dr. Tee Meng Hun's sermon on 11 September 2009 touched on the story of baby Moses being hid in a basket on river Nile. Hebrew 11:23 talks about the faith in doing so. But whose faith? Moses? No. The parents.

Yet, the parents' names were not mentioned in the first mention of the story in Exodus 2. The names of the parents only be mentioned in Exodus 6: Amram and Jochebed.

Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. (Exo 6:20 NIV)

The parents' names were rather obscured. Mentioned only in the genealogy (that shows that genealogy is important).

This part of the story shows that to have great faith does not mean we need to have great names, doing great things only. It is not about doing great things per se, it is about doing things with faith in a great God.

Selective Hearing (Selective Obedience)

Pastor Koshy Thomas' message on selective hearing in CF meeting (16 September 2009) has certainly convicted many people.

Using Samson as the example (Judges 13 - 16) Ps Koshy pointed out five characteristics of someone with selective hearing = selective disobedience = selective obedience = no obedience.

Samson was to be a Nazirite—a person who took a vow to be set apart for God's service. Samson's parents made the vow for him. A Nazirite vow was sometimes temporary, but in Samson's case, it was for life.

From Numbers 6:18, as a Nazirite, Samson could not:
- cut his hair
- touch a dead body, or
- drink anything containing alcohol, grape juice or anything from grapevine.

Judges 14:1-4 recorded Samson's first act of selective hearing - marrying a Philistine woman. Although God can turn the situation over for His advantage (Judges 14:4), this is not an excuse for us to disobey God.

The first point about people with selective hearing is:

1. People with selective hearing have already pre-determined or made up their mind even though they know that their course of action is sin or disobedience to God.
2. Secondly, people with selective hearing will not budge or change from their pre-decided course of action to disobey God despite being advised to do so (like in the case of Samson being advised by his parents)

In fact, people with selective hearing often seek out people who say things they want to hear.

Judges 14:8 - Samson already touched a dead body (violated his Nazirite vow).

At this point, Pastor Koshy touched on the issue of "unequally yoked" - a Christian going out steady with a unbeliever. A catchy phrase he used: "Marriage is not be tried out as a mission field." Want to go mission? Go to places like Myanmar, Vietnam, but not trying out in marriage.



3. People with selective hearing will do their acts of disobedience in secrets or in the dark but behaves innocently in public. Example of Samson in Judges 14:9 where after Samson touched the carcass of the dead lion to get the honey to eat, he kept it a secret from his parent:

which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass. (Jdg 14:9 NIV)

Though we may do acts in secrets, God knows and sees every thoughts and every acts done.

The next part that was shared is the account of Samson's infatuation with Delilah. Motivated by greed, Delilah used her persistence to wear down Samson. Samson's infatuation blinded him an he paid a great price for giving in to her persistence nagging.

4. People with selective hearing often refuse to see the reality (although deep down they may know it is wrong).

5. People with selective hearing continues disobeying God thinking that they will not be facing any consequences of their acts.
God is not impressed with our external acts. He looks at the heart. In fact the Bible says: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. (Gal 6:7 NIV)
We often do not understand the agricultural principle of sowing. We don't sow one seed and expect to receive the harvest of a one new seed. We sow one seed, and expect to harvest at least, say, one hundred seeds. Sowing one act of disobedience, reaping at least, say, one hundred consequences of our action.

Isn't it selective hearing = selective obedience = selective disobedience = no obedience. If Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.

We ended up that night by prayer, opening up the time for us to confess before our merciful God, a God of the second chance.

When are you most likely going to face temptation?

When are you most likely going to face temptation?

Wayde Goodall answered in an article, that we are most likely to face temptation in the event:

· 81% - When you have not spent much time with God

· 57% - When you have not had enough rest

· 45% - When life is difficult

· 42% - During times of change

· 37% - After a significant spiritual victory

· 30% - When life is going smoothly


He draws the example of Job. Job's commitment stemmed from:

1. Job’s covenant:

“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” Job 31:1

Job made up his mind that he was going to control lust in his life.

2. Job’s awareness:

“Does he not see my ways and count my every step?” Job 31:4

His awareness of God’s presence and God's knowledge of all his actions and thoughts motivated him to say, “I’d give up anything to keep God’s presence in my life.”

God counts your every step—minute by minute, day by day, year by year.

3. Job’s Commitment:

“If my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.” Job 31:7-8

Job was so committed in the area of lust-free living that he said to God; “If I blow it in this area, take everything away from me.”

Wayde further outlined six steps to control lust:

1. Be honest with yourself—own up to any problems you have and admit

2. Don’t feed your lust in any way, e.g. magazines, movies, television, telephone, “cyber-porn”.
Carnegie Mellion University found that 98.9% of cyber-porn (on-line) users are men.

3. Divert your attention when you are tempted (a hobby or activity that you can turn your thoughts to)

4. Don’t rationalize and say that lust is not a big deal—lust in your heart is wrong. You don’t have the right to take anyone to bed with you in your imagination.

5. Remember how others have failed—let it scare you.

6. Think about why you are struggling in this area - is it because you let yourself get involved in sexual conversations with other guys? Is it because you watch the wrong TV programs, look at the wrong videos, or go to the wrong movies? If you think about it, it will be easy to understand why you are struggling.

Selected Kid's Notes For God

Does God Exist? A YouTube Video

“Does God exist?” and was nodded by his students in return.

He then argues…

“If God exist, then he is evil!”

“Did God create everything that exists?”

“If God created everything, then he created Evil!” (Which is invalid…these is a mere violation of the syllogism rule)

He continued…

“Which means God is evil!”

But his argument was stopped by a boy who started to ask…

“Excuse me Professor?”

“Does cold exist?”

The Professor immediately responds…

“Of course cold exists!” and asked if he (referring to the boy) have never been experiencing cold.

And then the boy said…

“In fact Sir, cold doesn’t exist. According to the law of Physics what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat.”

The boy also added another argument that made the professor thinks…

“Professor Does darkness exists?” asked the boy.

“Of course it does!” the Professor said.

The boy immediately uttered. “You are wrong Sir. Darkness doesn’t exist. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study but not darkness. Evil doesn’t exist. It is just like darkness and cold. God didn’t create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his head.”

Run For The Nation 2009

Run For The Nation - Kelantan Run 10/10/2009

Click here to download the list of runners and their routes/groups:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AX-SR8F60uezZGM4cWdjZHhfMGZrbmp0dGR3&hl=en

Route A: starts 5.30 am
Route B: starts 6.10 am
Route C: starts 6.50 am
Route D: starts 7.30 am
Route E: starts 8.10 am
Route F: starts 8.50 am
Route G: starts 9.30 am
Route H: starts 10.10 am

Meeting for team leaders on 11 September 2009 at 2 pm First Assembly Of God Church.

Meeting for all runners on 4/10/2009 Kota Bharu Baptist Church
(Thanks to Andrew Yeap who prepared the list of runners)
Update (10/09/09)
People with paid T-shirts order

1. Teo Sin Yee (S)
2. Tan Swee Mang (M)
3. Chee Wai Hong (L)
4. Karen Voon (S)
5. Loo Hun Ching (M)
6. Siew King Wei (L)
7. Gabriel Matthew Fletcher (M)
8. Tan Yee Lin (M)
9. Pang Kin Tong (L)
10. Dawn Tan Gim Cheong (XL)
11. Tan Tze Ling (M)
12. Ling Heng Wei (M size)
13. Lim Jin Lee (M size)
14. Edwin Pheng (M size)
15. Wong Su Yun (S size)
16. Wong Chu Ann (S size)
17. Teo Jen Keat (M size)
18. Lim Cher Wee (S size)
19. Patrick Lee Liang Hoong (M size)
20. Rachel Lin Yen Hwa (S Size)
21. Gloria Guok (L size)
22. Chew Keng Sheng (XL size)

List of volunteers:
1. Wong Siew Ting
2. Lily Kou
3. Mary Chieng
4. Mary Wong Hui Jing
5. Rose Wong Mee Ting
6. Teng Kee Nieng
7. Lau Siik Jing
8. Rachel Lin Yen Hwa
9. Sze Hua
10. Gloria Guok


Latest T-shirt order by 12/09/09
Please note: The T-shirt is black in color, nice elegant design, but may not be suitable running especially under hot sun!!! This T-shirt is for you to keep and wear as remembrance
The design of the T-shirt is as below: