Thursday, April 24, 2008

Hey family! All of you still reading a-Psalm-a-day rite? So you all should know what i'm going to share on Psalm 112. Right..? Haha..

What i took away from the Psalm112 is that with the fear of the Lord, victory and a righteous walk with the Lord is assured.

2 His children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.

4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man. [c]

5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.

6 Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.

7 He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn [d] will be lifted high in honor.

The above promises follow when God's Word is your right-hand man. Basically for me as a councillor, it is very important that I have the fear of the Lord(well, everybody should have it regardless of what position you're in as long as you're a Christian) cos if i do not "conducts his affairs with justice", i will not be seen as a councillor. Leadership is influence! :D

As for us as warriors of light, v7 would probably have spoken to you too. To me, i do admit that bad news scares me the most. Whenever given a choice to have the good news first or bad news first, we'd choose bad news first cos we want to "get it over and done with". In actual fact, we're just scared in our hearts. Thinking that the good news dat follow will be able to replace the fear in us after hearing the bad news. But God wants us to be "steadfast, trusting in the Lord". And surely, "Even in darkness light dawns for the upright"! Amen! :D

God Bless!
Daniel :D

Sunday, April 20, 2008
Psalm 110

Even if this psalm is really short, I won't copy it down here.

Anyway, this Psalm speaks of the blessings that God will bestow on His Son.

We can take solace from this Psalm as it says that God is all powerful, and none of the nations can stand up to Him. Therefore, if we seek God in whatever we do, and do His will, then he will aid us, and none can stand against His power. So if we are with God, we will be able to be successful.

More importantly, I would like to put down here what I shared during cell group processing time today.

Where exactly does God lie on our list of priorities. For myself, God isn't the first thing I think about when I wake up. I don't rush home to spend time with Him. I don't rush to read my bible before breakfast. Even though I still do it, I'm more and more just going through the motions. Is going to church more important than our homework? I'm not saying we should neglect our homework, but I'm saying if you have a social gathering, or a birthday party on Sunday, we should put God first and go to church. Basically, if it isn't life or death, or extremely urgent, we should try hard to spend more time with God.

Therefore, I encourage all of us to reflect on how we can improve our relationship with Him. An integral part would be our Fear of the Lord. Because if we do fear God, then we would naturally put Him first, and not put Him last.

Think about it.

Monday, April 14, 2008
Psalm 105

Hi guys! Looks like im starting to post punctually.. xD Anyway, here's my sharing on Psalm 105.

Basically, I feel that the whole Psalm is talking about the faithfulness of God, how it was the source of strength for Joseph who eventually became the "master of his household"(v.21). He was given a high rank position by the king if im not wrong.. And it was by God's faithfulness and grace!

The next example shared in the Psalm was the one on Moses leading the people out of Egypt. Had it not been for God's love and mercy, they would have been consumed by the plagues that God sent on the Egyptians..

I just feel that God has been faithful to every single one of us ever since we were born and that we cannot take His faithfulness for granted(yes, im sure you've heard this time and again). But "people tend to forget"(quoted from pastor's preaching ytd.). Below are verses that you can memorise to remember God's Presence with you always! :D Below are some verses to remind you of God's everlasting faithfulness and goodness!

v1 "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done."

v4. "Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always."

v8 "He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations."

v14 "He allowed no one to oppress them(Isrealites travelling to Canaan); for their sake he rebuked kings"

v29 "He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night."

v41 "He opened the rock, and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert."

Lastly, a verse to "discipline" us.
v28 "He sent darkness and made the land dark- for had they not rebelled against his words?"

G.B.U
Daniel :D

Sunday, April 13, 2008
Psalm 103

Well, this is the psalm that pastor preached about today, so for all those who went, I think you know what Psalms 103 is all about. If you didn't go today, you can hear Pastor's message on the FCBC website when it comes out. So since I shouldn't really repeat Pastor's message here, I think that I will post up my personal reflections on Psalm 103.

Today, we learnt why we should continually sing to God and worship Him in everything that we do. I'm quite sure that most of us, including me, haven't been living up to this. We often do things that we aren't quite proud of. I mean, would it be worshiping God if we tease a poor classmate that is always the butt of the class's jokes? I don't think so. Therefore, we should examine all our actions. I'll try my best.

Also, we must put in our best effort in all we do. If doing our homework, or helping someone else with their homework is part of our worship, we should show Christ-like values in putting in our best effort in helping our friends, and not do things half-heartedly.

Most importantly, I think that reading the word of God and praying would be a form of worship to Him, and therefore, we shouldn't think that because Sanctification Week is over, we can slack off and become lukewarm christians.

I personally haven't been spending much time with God because I've been busy with the things of the world. This is not correct. We must come back to God!

That's basically it. Sorry it's kinda short, but that's the main message that I took away from the sermon today. Got exam tomorrow.

See you all on Sunday.

我的心你要称颂耶和华

我的心，你要称颂耶和华，不可忘记祂的恩惠。
祂赦免你一切过犯罪孽，医治你疾病复原。
我的心，你要称颂耶和华，不可忘记祂的恩惠。
祂以仁爱慈悲为你冠冕，为受屈的人伸冤。

天离地有何等的高，祂的慈爱也何等的深，
东离西有多么的远，祂使我的过犯也离我多远。
耶和华有怜悯的爱，且有丰盛无尽的恩典，
从亘古直到永远，耶和华，祂是我的神。

Friday, April 11, 2008
"Shout to the Lord" on American Idol Tonight!

Hello people,

Don't know if any of you follow American Idol (I don't; I came to know about this from a forwarded e-mail from my father), but tonight's episode on Channel 5, 11pm, features the top 8 finalists singing "Shout to the Lord"! Here's the YouTube video:

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Hey guys! *Woah you finally u post!*

Well, to be frank with you guys, I have been drifting away from God for the past 1 week+ until today. I have not been spending time with God(besides a mere 15 mins everyday, wait, not even everyday...) but instead i've been either sitting infront of the com, tv or work(majority is com). I know, its not good for me to be doing this.. I always knew it was wrong. But it had always been head-knowledge. Until today.

After I showered, i decided to spend time with God. I knew i could not run away any longer. The whole time with God was spent on praise and worship. But it was enough. 45-50mins of praise and worship. Was enough. I was truly ministered during this time.

I realised how stupid i had been. Isolating myself from reality and being obsessed with the virtual world was a routine for me daily for the past 1wk+.. There wasnt much hw anyway.. But in that time of praise and worship, God showed me reality as it is. Well, it was not about getting good grades for my Os, neither was it to be the best gamer. Instead, God showed me the way; fulfilling his plans and purposes for my life as a God-knows-what. Well, i really have no idea what God wants me to do in future but all i know is dat my life will not be wasted on games!!

God also reminded me of where my home is. It's neither on Earth let alone Singapore, nor the world. I live in God's kingdom. So does every single one of us. And every single thing we do now will be recorded in our "Life-file" in one of God's drawers! I'm sure none of you want to have a bad record. More importantly, we'd want to please God, our Father and Creator, won't we? So start "storing up treasures" in Paradise(Heaven) now!

If you have gone cold towards the Lord, (trust me, this isn't some religious lecture, but..) just come into the Lord's presence and sing your heart out for Him! But there's one thing dat must be in effect at all times. MEAN WHAT YOU SING! Don't pay lip service to God! He'd rather listen to his Heaven-surround-sound-system with songs from His CDs than see us mouth the lyrics out. (basically this is my sharing for Psalm 98 too! :D)

Psalm 98:4-8

4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy.

Press on! Breakthrough's just 'round the corner!

BigBirdZDaniel :D

Sunday, April 6, 2008
Psalm 96

Sorry! One day late. But no one has posted this week! Bad, bad, bad.

Psalm 97 is mostly about praising God. Like verse 1-3, which makes up one of the old, but familiar songs that we've sung in church before. It's a universal song, since I sang it in Hebrew in Israel. Which was fun. Anyway.

Another part of the Psalm, verses 7-9 once again encourages us to worship God. This brings to mind the sermon we had last week. We should not just worship God on Sunday, and we also should not just worship God through singing songs.

I, personally, would like to praise God for my English results, which have all been quite, if not very good. And also, I feel that I will get a good result for my Maths TA.

There isn't anything much. I really don't know what else to reflect about.

But yeah, just continue praising God, and remember that He's been good to you, even if you haven't been good to Him lately.

Saturday, April 5, 2008
Psalm 95

Though the bulk of this psalm is a song of praise unto God (verses 1–6), it still carries an important message. God is our shepherd and we, the flock under His care. When we go astray and hear God speaking into our lives, we must not harden our hearts like the stiff-necked Israelites who tested and tried Him long ago. That generation spent many years wandering aimlessly in the desert and never entered God's rest. Instead, we must listen to His Word and act accordingly. However, this is only possible if we have develop a lifestyle with passion for the presence of God:

1. Let's Prioritise Worship
   • Acknowledge His Lordship


2. Let's Pursue Reconciliation
   • Appreciate His Discipline


3. Let's Persist in Prayer
   • Appropriate His Promises

By the way, here is a write-up of the "Magic Box" Press Launch from My Paper. You can use this as a way of sharing about the "Magic Box" with others or even invite them to come (click to enlarge):


God bless you,
:) John