Thursday, June 19, 2008

Praise GOD!!!

3 Ds and 1 Cs for first semester!! totally unexpected!! Thank You Lord!!

Management and Statistics especially, totally shocking!

It all starts again...... back to uni life, books, assignments....

And for some reason..... I'm excited!

Bring it on!

Peace~

Back from India!!

And it was... amazing...

It was a conference for children and children's workers from all around the world, called 'Children in Prayer Global consultation', which main aim is to connect children prayer networks from around the world and bring prayer back into their nations through children ministries, as well as to sense the father heart of God for children.

Many of you would probably wonder what I was doing there.. well, my family has been in the children ministry for some time and my parents bring us (me and my sisters) to their travels and ministry to help them, and we love it!

This time though, I was also involved with speaking in a main session about 'youth/children leading children' and help lead the kids who were from there from all around the world. Meeting with other people and kids is amazing, I now have friends from South Africa, Aussie, Egypt, and list goes on!

What made it great though, was what I learnt while the time spent there...

We visited a big orphanage called the Royal Kids, and they have a few thousand children around India, and just seeing them, was phenomenal! esspecially when they prayed for us

I really felt God's love for the indian children, and it brought back memories of my previous mission trip to India through 'Youth with a mission' in 06 (that's another whole story I've yet to write about :p)

This time though, it wasnt exactly a mission trip, altough we did minister to many of the children
and prayed for the children etc.

I was really worried actually, like 'who will feed these children, where do they stay, etc but God reassured me that He really loves them and will sustain them, even supernaturally.. wow!

This turns my perspective of the world around... again...

Many of these children have been abused, raped, forced into prostitution, watched their parents die in front of them (like being burnt or electricuted, it's horrifying just hearing their stories)

And then looking back at how blessed we are, melts us really, many of us just stood there weeping as we washed the feet of some of these children during the night rally..

May God break our hearts with the things that break His heart..

One particular verse will stick with me through this, Malachi 4:6 'He will turn the hearts of the children to thier fathers, and the heart of the fathers to their children', to the heavenly father, our daddy God!

Let's just be grateful yeah, for the things God has blessed us with, even the opportunity to read this post... Millions out there, have a need.. shelter, education, food...

Spend some time thinking, and praying, and being grateful ;)

God bless you

Japheth

Monash CF Camp!

IT was great!

Thanks guys for being so participative and sporting and funny and all!

Thanks committee for planning and leading!

Thank you speakers for just being yourself and transparent with us!

Thank you most of all, God!, for everything!

Praise God!

Jesus You are...

A song I wrote, can't remember when, or how it sounds like, but here it is ;)

God, help me realise that Life on earth is more than this
I try and try, yet changes never come
Could I suffer any more,
won't you help me please
not my will, but yours be done

Sitting alone in this corner
I reflect what you've done for me
give me the self-control, the will power
to live a life that I was meant to be

What must I do to break free?
To honour You, for You are worthy
Give me the strength, to worship thee
More of You, less of me

Cuz Jesus You are
More than the air I breath
the song I sing

Jesus You are
My only hope
My everything

Victory is found in You my King
As I seek You I shall find You
For You promised freedom, not just a fling
If I would obey and honour You in all I do

Out of the bag...

Another poem I found while digging through my old files... from RP2 Camp by a one of the groups

Out of the bag, I took out of my bag a paper,
My past, my present, and my future,
How the story of my life unfolds,
That the Lord God Almighty controls,
In order to move on I have to give in,
And surrender all my hurts and pains to Him.


Out of the bag I took out myself,
Taught of my identity, children of God himself,
Creations of the maker, special in every way,
He will never forsake me, each and everyday,


Out of the bag, I took out my God,
Viewed His personality, which I long forgot,
Knowing the trinity, my triune God,
Gives me a clear picture of my sovereign God.


Out of the bag I took out my family,
Memories of roles, discipline and responsibilities,
Mommy, daddy, siblings and me,
They are the people who make up my family,
I learned that unconditional love is a must,
And honesty, too, to build their trust.


Out of the bag I took out my friends,
People who motivated and inspired my plans,
The good, the bad, and the ugly,
They will always be a lasting memory.


Out of the bag I took out my teachers,
Painted my life a beautiful picture,
My teachers I learned to appreciate,
Remembering the sacrifices they made,
Imperfect though they may be,
I thank God they were given to me.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Devotions.....

taken from devotional material - worthy ministries

John 15:1-5 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

How do we produce much fruit? What is the Lord saying?In the modern world, the work ethic is, achieve and produce by working longer and harder! The focus is on getting results through human effort -- we've become product oriented and the bottom line is......the bottom line! But God's way runs contrary to this approach -- His way is much more oriented toward process and relationship rather than performance and production. He IS interested in results which He calls "fruit"; but not by pushing or egging us on to work harder or longer.The Lord's way is to work with and through us so that every result or product comes out of our abiding in Him, since without Him WE CAN DO NOTHING.This is opposed to of the culture we live in today, and to human nature in general. Think about it -- we're constantly bombarded with self-help books promoting self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-control –- our society is all about SELF! But God's way of success produces the results which He values; results which are not produced by self-effort, but which grow out of an intimate relationship with Him, in which we seek to constantly abide.

The only way we can become abundantly fruitful is to understand the Lord's fruit-bearing process. As we lay down self-effort, our natural human independence, and seek communion with Him, abiding in the Vine, then His power, His will, and His desires will be realized in our lives, which then, will bear fruit that remains throughout eternity!

God's Ideal

I read this entry at a friends blog some time ago and saved it, check it out!

GOD’S IDEAL

Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone
to have a deep soul relationship with another,
to be loved thoroughly and exclusively.
But God, says,“No, not until you are satisfied, fulfilled and content with being loved by Me alone, with giving yourself totally and unreservedly to me, with having an intensely personal relationship with me alone,
discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found, will you be capable of the perfect human relationship that I have planned for you.
You will never be able to unite with another until you are united with Me,
exclusive of anyone or anything else,exclusive of any other desires or longings.
I want you to stop planning, stop wishing,
and allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan existing,
one that you cannot imagine.
I want you to have the very best.
Please allow Me to bring it to you.
You just keep watching Me, expecting the greatest thing,
keep experiencing the satisfaction that I AM,
keep listening and learning the things I tell you,
you just wait, that’s all.
Don’t worry. Don’t be anxious.
Don’t look around at the things others have gotten or that I’ve given them.
Don’t look at the things you think you want.
You just keep looking at Me, or you’ll miss what I want to show you.
And then, when you’re ready,
I’ll surprise you with a love far more wonderful than any you would dream of.
You see, until you are ready, and until the one I have for you is ready,
(I am working even at this moment to have you both ready at the same time)
until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me,
and the life I prepared for you,
you won’t be able to experience the love that exemplifies your relationship with Me,
and thus the perfect love.
And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love.
I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your relationship with me,
and to enjoy materially and concretely,
the everlasting union of beauty, perfection and love.
Know that I love you utterly.
I am God.
Believe it and be satisfied.”
Jesus Loves You!

Passion V2

So I thought I would continue the passion ramblings..
A verse struck me the other day, Matthew 6:21:

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be"

and it's sooo true... I guess what I learnt from the things that we desire the most, would probably mean the most to us. I'm the kind of guy that would really be all out to do the things that I like, e.g- jamming, worship leading, futsal'ing, chatting (at times), and it's so easy to get caught up in our own desires that we kind of, miss out what God has planned for us?

I tried to understand what that verse in a different approach, try switching it around and you get "Where your heart is, there your treasure will be"

Now I get back to passion, it all starts from the heart. That's number one. How many of us pray for revival and yet we refuse to lift our hands during worship or allow the Holy Spirit to move in our hearts? Many of us pray for passion and yet we do not attend prayer meetings or encourage our friends to. Now don't give me 'oh I'm like really busy and I can pray back home', There might be some truth in that but how many of us actually do pray by ourselves? It is said in the bible, 'Pray without ceasing' and we would, if we really understand what passion is. There's power in corporate prayer and agreement, 'If two or three are gathered, there He is in our midts'.

Number two, Passion is more caught than thought. Speakers can talk alot about passion but at the end of the day, it's really all about catching the essence and acting apon what you believe. Walk the talk. Don't just talk so much (something I'm learning too!).

So I guess a question to ask ourselves after all this is,

What are you doing about your passion?

Japh

Happy Father's Day!!!

Just a side note, dedicated to all father's out there, especially my dad! and our Big daddy up there!

Happy Father's Day!!

Thank You, Dad for everything! Words alone cannot describe how you have impacted my life, and made me who I am today..

Sorry for the times I have not heeded your advice.. which are very very wise.. I've learnt that!

May God bless you and keep you, may His face shine on you, and grant you peace!

I love You, Dad!

Japh

Passion = Revived

It's so easy to just let our fire dwindle....
Many people fade away after a while, and it seems to increase as we grow up...
In school it's really easy to catch the flame (cf camps, conferences, concerts etc etc)
And it's quite easy to mantain it since you're stuck with ur friends in school for a max 11 years
After that as we enter college... most of us split... make new friends.. adjusting to new environments.. Some people keep their fire up, maintain their friendships, still attend CG's..
As we enter Uni, we find more and more of our friends going overseas... Life gets a little more challenging, tougher.. more deadlines, important assignments.. crazy exams.. It is most likely to be here where one actually decides His faith, whether to maintain it, grow it, or let it die...

Cuz when we actually get out to work, 9-5, reality, bosses, loneliness, relationships, family, finance, jobs and many other things kick in..
An interesting fact in most churches today, many many kids/teens, ok ok number of youths, and then there are the older generation..
Where are the young working adults?
This is true with many churches, including the mega ones

I believe we can change that. And one of the things that really stuck me is Passion. We talk alot about bringing revival, reaching others for Christ, mantaining a relationship with God, which is all really good and important. But how to do those things without having a passion for God?
In this case I'm talking about hunger. When one is hungry, you feed yourself. Same goes for us as christians, most of us do not feed our hunger, maybe we have even built an immunity against feeling it!
How may one feed our spiritual hunger? easy. Pray always. Eat the Word. Heart of Worship.
Sounds cliche? Let me add one more very important factor, fellowship with believers. I believe that when a person is continually in contact with strong christians, there is motivation to mantain a stronger personal relationship. I know you have heard this a zillion times, 'Oh all that matters is your personal walk with God", and this is true! However, how do u do so when u walk with the world? sounds contradictory?
DO u know what struck me? Take our Handphones for example, or internet (MSN, gmail, facebook) etc etc. How many of us can live without our handphones for lets say, 1 week? oh wait, make that a day? or wait, make that a couple of hours? be honest here people, I'm pretty sure you are either having your phone right next to you this very moment or if not, in your pocket!
This is my point. Why do we really treasure our phone or msn? easy. It connects us with people!

Now trade your handphones with the bible. Are you twitching right now? How easy is it to stuff our bibles in our little closets and take it out on sundays for church because 'it's the right thing to do?' How many of us can live without or bible for lets say, 1 week? sure! 2 weeks? yeah most likely i'll survive, 3 weeks? a month? be honest here again. Where is your bible now? err, somewhere in my room? And why do we not treasure our bibles when IT CONNECTS US TO GOD! or maybe we treasure it too much that we don't want to ruin it by openning it?!
It is said, a clean bible does not nessessarily mean a clean christian (and I think u would know why)

Sorry if this hits a nerve or two. Bear in mind I'm also talking to myself many times. Lets get back to passion. Ever heard somebody shout, "YEAH ENGLAND WON! GLORY MAN U! CHELSEA ARSENAL! F1! LETS GO CS! HAVE U SEEN THAT MOVIE?!! and the lists goes on....

now that a deep breath. Ever heard somebody shout, "YEAH MY AUNT GOT HEALED FROM CANCER!, DO U KNOW MY FRIEND RECEIVED CHRIST? HAVE U READ THIS BOOK ABOUT GOD? LET's GO FOR PRAYER MEETING!

again I'm sorry if this hurts a few buttons. Just think for a while. and let me ask this final question...

Where is your passion?

Jesus Loves You.

Japh.

My busy upcoming holidays (workdays more like it)

Yes exams are finally coming to an end.. (well I still have one more paper to go but... weee!!)
Thank YOU GOD for helping me through my papers! (thus far :p)!
Seriously it's been a crazy 2 weeks or so of being stuck in the library TRYING to study (which I somehow managed to do -most of the time :P!)
My first paper was management and I panicked when I entered the hall (finger shaking etc..) but heck I finished it! :O! Second paper was better thanks to all the past year papers and answers! haha.. Third paper done today and for some reason I had TOO much time.. so.. ended up doodling.. hehe.. next up is on tuesday so can blog! Thank You to everybody who has been helping me throughout this period (even asking me to study helps! or bugging me about exams! :P)

All in all I've learnt a few things through this period
1. I study better in the mornings then I do at night (like 8am? hehe)
2. If I sleep less, I can accomplish more work! (like duh.. haha!)
3. An earphone can do wonders (like cutting out distractions! p.s- I'm an audio person, remembers things through sounds)

So yes that's been pretty much sums up my semester, and looking forward to my holidays (if I can call them that!) will be crazier! these are my plans for the holidays...

17th June: Final paper- accounts
18-19th: Go to Inti Nilai for CF drama competition, Stay in Nilai
20th: Get bank account
21: Probably footsal or batminton or rock climbing
22: Church
23-27: Prepare for CF camp // India trip (am doing a presentation in front of a few hundred people? :O!)
28-30th: Monash CF Camp! (STM Seremban)
1st-8th July: India!! (Children In Prayer Conference)
12-13th: CG+ in FRIM! (mountain biking, orienteering, technical tree climbing etc)
14th: Semester two starts................................

Crazy or not?

Probably the reason why I'm doing all this is cuz next semester would probably be nuts anyway, business law, marketing, macroeconomics, money and capital markets.. crazy subjects! and I guess I would be busier (I better be! I've learnt my lesson!), and I should do my homework regularly (yes yes I know...) So I guess my hectic'ness MIGHT end only in November after my finals.. in which I might be going to Australia.... Working in Jan/Feb..... going CG+ again.... paint-balling.... ... ... etc etc...

Never ends eh?

Oh and do get better Chris!! will be praying for you! May God heal you completely!

Here we go again............

Take care u all!

Japh