:: one way. Jesus. ::

Monday, February 28, 2005

Hi friends...

Pursuing Jesus is the highest calling and foremost ministry in your life. It is the foundation of your Christian walk. It has to be strong, to be an anchor to cause you to be rooted in Christ and not swayed by the world.

Just would like to share with you certain issues regarding your daily communion with God:

1-put off all hindrances

For me, one of the hindrances to enter that Secret Place is "self-consciousness". I am trying to make sure that I'm doing the right stuff during my quiet Time with God. That is not necessary and unwise. Let us, by the Grace of God, take the picture off ourselves and place it on Christ- who deserve our fullest attention and our fullest worship. Only then can we enter into the sanctuary of God.

2-a broken spirit and a contrite heart

Our heart must be humbled (without pride), broken, sincere. And our spirit must be quietened and still in order to "catch" the voice of God.

3- Desperation

Yes, indeed, we must be desperate for Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Let's cry out for Him, just like a deer that is panting for water.

4- repentance

In order to cause God's face to shine on us, we must first repent of our sins, so that we may be without condemnation and blameless in His sight. Repentance is two-fold. It is turning from our sins and trusting God.

A Prayer

Jesus, I pray that you would come and refresh our hearts and give us a personal encounter of You in our daily quiet time. Make that secret place so real in our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen!

History Maker - traveled on - 3:23 AM

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Intis article, I would like to share with you about bearing spiritual fruits. Hope that as you read with a teachable heart, God will begin to plant in you a desire to bear spiritual fruits and be fruitful for Him.

Ben

Importance of Bearing Fruits

"He cuts off every branch in me that does not produce fruit..." John 15:2

Many Christians become afraid when they read this verse. It is a scary realisation that even though you may be in Christ, you could still be cut off if you do not bear fruits.

Why did Jesus put so much importance to bearing fruits that he says we are in danger of losing our fellowship with God (being "cut off from God") if we do not produce fruits?

Hey...wait a minute...I thought that nothing could ever separate us from the love of God! "Nothing" includes not bearing fruits, right?

That's where you're wrong. Let us examine why.

Jesus said to the church of Laodicea that "if they were neither hot nor cold, he was going to spit them out of his mouth". Here's the reason why Jesus places such utmost importance on bearing fruits:- He can't afford to have half-hearted Christians who sit on the fence, doing nothing to advance His kingdom!

We are living in the end-times, my friends. The Lord's eyes are on the earth, searching to strengthen those whose heartsare fully devoted to him. I will explain more on what "fruits" are our Lord Jesus talking about in just a minute.

What I would like to say here is that, the Lord desires to rise up his church to fufill his calling- to reap the end-time harvest and do many great works in His name...but are we willing?

What does it mean to bear fruits?

I used to think that "fruits" meant works.

Works are defined as your "public ministry". It could be serving in your church's cell leadership team, worship team, dance team, prayer team...etc. You may asked, "why do I include the word- 'public'?"

The reason is that all the ministries in your church (even the most low-profile one) can be seen by others. That makes them "public". What has all these got to do with works? Serving in a ministry at church is "working unto the Lord." That makes what you are doing-works.

But is "works" equivalent to "fruits"?

I believe a believer can do alot of "works" (service in church) and yet does not produce fruits. Why do I say so?

Jesus was talking about fruits when he said, "Many will say to me on that day (judgement day), 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

If you read the verses before what is written above, you will find that Jesus said that a "good tree cannot produce bad fruits but good fruits" and "every tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." Wait a minute, Jesus! It seemed like He had contradicted himself by giving us the consequence of not producing fruit and later said that those who had done lots of works (prophesying, driving out demons, performing many miracles) will be told that they had not known Him and driven away.

What I'm saying here is that Jesus was not contradicting himself. This could only be true if all those "works" many will do were not "fruits". This bring us to a conclusion- "works" in itself are not fruits.

What are fruits then?

Our God is a creative God. He loves to put wisdom into the his teachings. I believe that the answer we seek is found in the teachings of Jesus on prayer.

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagouges and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

What are the "works" described in this passage of scripture? The "works" are the "public praying". Yet, Jesus did not say that praying when there are people around (eg. congregational praying) was wrong. the message he wanted to bring across was that that you can pray aloud, with fantastic words (doing works) and still fail to please your Father in heaven.

Thus, fruits are produced when we please or bless God's heart. "Works" itself is not fruits, but works with the intention of pleasing God's heart is fruits.

How do we start producing these fruits?

Pursue God

What does "pursue God" means? It means committing everything in prayer, living a lifestyle of total abandonment to His purposes, denying our earthly desires and to live in a constant state of reflecting on His love.

Living by His law

Those who live by His law are "like trees planted by streams of water and they bear fruits in season". Living by His law means not to sit in the council of unholy people and not indulging the flesh.

A Prayer

O Lord, may You bless our lives with an overflowing of fruits. And in turn, let us be obedient to Your call, drawing others into Your very heart and presence. In Jesus's name, Amen!

History Maker - traveled on - 1:35 AM

Thursday, February 10, 2005

In the last article, we learned about the enemies of waiting and to persevere in our waiting. In this article, we will be focusing on the “tools” that God has given to enable us to finish the waiting period, and the character that God wants us to be molded into at the end of the period, and the reason why God even put us in the waiting period.

“Tools” that God has given us

Prayer

King David was anointed by the Prophet Samuel to become King while he was only a boy. However, he had to go through many tough times and near-death experiences with Saul before he became King.

Can u imagine the thoughts that run through his mind during the time he served under King Saul? He knew he was the rightful King yet he had to work under a King who had long lost his anointing.

David would surely have felt the sting everytime someone proclaimed Saul as King. I would explain about this component much later in the article.

But, what was the factor that kept him going? It was the God and his compelling love. I believed the Psalms were David’s prayers to God. Wait a minute! Aren’t prayers supposed to be spoken? Not at all. Prayers are genuine words from someone’s heart. In this case, it was sung.

As he sang those prayers, David’s heart was renewed by God’s love and peace (that surpasses all understanding). Let us be believers who commit ourselves to praying regularly.

Worship

“What is the sweetest worship?” is the question I sometimes hear. The answer is simple: Sweetest worship is formed when you praise in the midst of unfulfilled promises and overwhelming odds.

Let us learn to worship God, not only in songs but in our life. A life of worship is one in which we surrender our own rights and desires, so that we may inherit God’s plans for us.

Lord, YOU are EVERYTHING and I hold back NOTHING!

God’s wants to mould us to be...

Humbled

You and I may feel that God has a definite “yes” for us to join a certain ministry. But, God’s ways are higher than our ways and he may say “wait”. He did not give a straight “no” but he wants us to wait.

Sometimes, we may feel that we are the best candidates for the job and thus, the Lord uses this waiting period to humble us. He is getting purging away our pride.

Let us humble ourselves before God so that He may exalt us in due time.

Reliant on Him

We tend to take things into our own hands. Many of us live out our life based on our own feelings, emotions or understanding. God wants to use you for mighty things and he wants to rise you up on eagles’ wings but you need to be reliant on Him and not on ourselves and our abilities.

God may want to use this waiting period to bring you to that realization that without Him, you can do nothing. He wants you to learn to surrender your life, hopes, and desires into his perfect plan.

Remember, His perfect plan is to prosper us, not to harm us.

Sanctified Motives

Are you doing what you are doing for God and for His cause? Or is there a hidden motive behind it? Are you trying to gain something, maybe recognition?

God is using this waiting period to sanctify your motives and make you like pure gold. The process is not easy; you will have to go through fire. But don’t worry, the Potter knows when to intensify, lower or stop the flame. Trust Him. And don’t hurry his work.

Dead to self, Alive in Christ

Paul said, “It’s no longer I who live but Christ that lives in me.” Indeed, when we become a Christian, Christ lives in us but our earthly nature is not gone yet.

I feel the sting everytime someone speaks about a certain ministry that I can’t advance further in during this time. What is the sting? I believe it’s insecurity. I feel threatened and that is part of our earthly nature.

When do you feel the sting? Is it related to your own personal waiting room experience (a figurative room that symbolizes your waiting situation)? I sense that God wants me to first die to myself, in this case, not to be insecure or threatened because all I ever want and need should be Him. Then, I can be allowed to go on in this ministry.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”

What is God’s plan?

Some of you may feel that God has long given up on you and is no longer going to fulfill his promises towards you. That is a lie from the Devil. He doesn’t want you to take hold of all that God has in stored for you.

Today, God is saying that what you are going through is refinement through fire. He wants to make you like GOLD! You are candidates for great things.

Don’t lose sight of God’s plans and purposes for your life though they may seem distant and dim. For the Lord does not back out on his promises towards his children and he does not give up on those he have chosen.

Like a shepherd, he will go all out just to find that one lost sheep.

Let’s pray...

I pray that the Spirit of God will come right now and touch those hearts that have gone and weary and dry. Those who are feeling empty or dry right now, Spirit of God, pour down like rain on their whole soul, In the name of Jesus. Refresh them, oh Lord. Give them fresh vision of your plans and purposes. I rebuke every lie of the devil. Lord, I pray that your truth shall be revealed to them so clearly that there will be no denying. Bring conviction, Oh Lord.

I pray that those whose hearts have gone cold and flames that are diminishing, right now in the name of Jesus, Spirit of God, infuse them with Hope that only you can give. Light the flame, oh Lord. Come down like fire and burn deep into their souls. I rebuke every lie of the devil that they are inadequate for you to use them. Lord, I pray your joy into their hearts that no circumstances or people can ever take away.

We Praise you and worship you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!

I would like to end with a final word of encouragement.

“Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;
They will run and not grow and weary,
They will walk and not be faint.”

History Maker - traveled on - 11:57 PM

Thursday, February 03, 2005

"For those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will
soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will
walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

Waiting is hope in action.

Doubts from self- an enemy of waiting

Noah heard from God to build a certain ark to save his famiy from a certain disastrous storm that would soon consume this world and all that is in it. The interesting thing was that the earth had no rain till the point Noah entered the ark. Because of this, I believe that Noah would be surprised when God told him about the flood. What is a flood? Noah would have thought to himself.

Then God instructed him to build an ark. Noah would begin to think, "First, I do not know what a flood is. Secondly, why would such a huge ark be needed?" During those times, the biggest ark was probably equivalent to a small ship, that was used to fish, and travel for short distances by sea.

Despite all his doubts, Noah started to build this ark just as God had instructed him.

What does this teach us?

-It teaches us to obey God even when things do not turn out right.

What has this got to do with waiting?

-It has everything to do with waiting. Noah waited a few hundred years before the flood eventually came. Noah did not just obey God by building the ark, but more than that, he chose to wait on the Lord despite the doubts he faced.

The World- second enemy of waiting

It wasn't just the doubts. Years after years went by, yet Noah stayed faithful to God. When people around him saw what he was doing, they did not encourage but mocked him- doubting his God and the flood that was coming. Imagine, Noah trying his best to build the ark in the hot afternoon sun and here comes a group of doubters who will stop at nothing to tease, mock and even throw stones at him. The hurt and the pain would be clear in Noah's eyes.

What can we learn?

-When the world (people) rejects you because of your faith, ReJoice because u are servant of Jesus. If they mock the master, will they not mock His servants?

Persevere in Wating

Somehow, the word- "Persevere" has been used mainly on a more active tone. 9 out of 10 people will tell you to persevere in your work, studies etc. But, there is a more deeper meaning to "Persevere".

The bible talks in these two verses that deeper meaning of "Persevere":

1) You have heard of Job's perseverance (James 5:11)

2) Blessed in the man who perseveres under trial (James 1:12)

In these 2 verses, "perseverance" is associated with trial. Let me ask you a question: what can u possibly do when you are under a trial other than waiting on the Lord?

What can we learn?

Sometimes, it is much more difficult to wait on the Lord than to do His work when things are fine. You don't really persevere when everything is going fine for you. You don't have to. But when you are caught in a storm or there is an unfufilled promise of God in ur life, that is when you really start to persevere in waiting on Him.

In His Time, He makes ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUl! In HIS time.

Ben

History Maker - traveled on - 11:27 PM

the traveller

Name: Benedict
Walked since: 1994
Walked For: God and God alone..His forever..with Family. Friends. Church. ...

past roads

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