Wednesday, June 11, 2008

God has always been good.

you know, i believe God is always good. the circumstances may be bad, but God always wants the good for us. sometimes adversity does not pass by immediately, or the 'good' we want does not come our way, but God's intention is always for our good and well being. and it does come.

the past sunday at church was a real blessing. i was a little down because i was going to be alone at service, and there were many issues bothering me, and i thought i was going to be late and to miss worship. but events turned around miraculously. i didnt need to fetch my granny, turned up late by 15 mins fopr the servie but in time for worship, and God met me there and ten. He comforted me and told me as always, and as usual, that He is taking care of me. my finances, my work, my illness, my life, my family.

and in the sermon, i was reminded by pastor mark that God will make good our mistakes for us. yes we should still do our best, but we must trust that God is in control. our human efforts will never be enough to make good the situation. but God can. it was a real good message and testimony.

Thank You Lord God, for being my God, and for you Jesus, for dying for my sins and giving me the blessed life.

First 3 days at work has been good. not too busy, to let me acclimatise to the place. more updates soon, and also on my euro grad trip to come soon. it was the greatest holiday i have experienced.

God bless.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

no fear

1 John 4:18
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear…

Friday, April 25, 2008

i cant be redeemed by a million dollars

1 Peter 1:

18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Jesus' sacrifice includes our diseases

i have always been puzzled by Jesus sacrifice. i did not understand the significance of his death and ressurection though i have been a christian all my life.

one of the new revelations i have had about Jesus in the past couple of years is that He not only died for my sins, he died for my diseases as well.

So when a christian asks God for healing, it is not based on God's will or sooka-ness alone. there is a more legitimate, more legal ground for healing.

it is that JESUS dies for our diseases.
lets look at Isaiah 53:4-5, a chapter about Jesus.

King James Bible
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

actually, griefs and sorrows meant pains and sickness in the original Hebrew.

Bible in Basic English
But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God's punishment had come.

Jewish Publication Society Tanakh
Surely our diseases he did bear, and our pains he carried; whereas we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.


Hooray! Hallelujah! and that is why today i know i am disease free. and even when any diagnosis of illness arises: i know i will be healed.

for a greater in depth look into healing see this article:
http://sg.geocities.com/saltandlight5/healingintheatonement.html

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

our covenant God

Genesis 15:
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

Genesis 15 is quite an intriguing chapter.
God promises Abram to give him a son (Issac).
Abram believes God, and is credited with righteousness.

God then promises and convenants with Abram to give him the land (what is today known as Israel). God also foretells the escape of the Israelites from Egpyt under moses.
The covenant proceeds to be cut.
However, before it is done, Abram is put into a deep sleep.
one might think, oh, God bluff abram and put him to sleep so covenant wont be cut.

the interesting thing is: God cuts the covenant with a "smoking oven and a flaming torch". This torch or pillar of fire is supposedly Jesus. So Jesus represented Abram as early as that and was his representative. interesting huh.

the same thing is in operation today, since Jesus' death on the cross.
The new covenant is cut between jesus as our representative and God our father.

Monday, April 21, 2008

sting of death is gone.

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”- 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

we have been set free from sin and its consequence: death.

it does not mean that we will stop sinning. because we live in fleshly bodies, sin still arises. but thanks be to God, eternal death and damnation sis no longer our reward.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

he was made the sacrifice for us

i believe that every person knows that there is good and evil, and that the evil needs to be punished. i believe this is inherent, and not a matter of social construct.

a human knows that evil, or sin, needs to be punished. criminal law for example, is a reflection of this. ( i am in the midst of my comparative criminal law 48 hour paper so i immediately linked criminal law)

i believe that when a person commits a wrong, there is a feeling inside that tells the person this is WRONG, and it needs to be punished. the thing is, how is the person to absolve this guilty feeling? how to atone?

Jesus was made the appropriation for our sins. we can try our best to do more good deeds than evil ones, or to avoid morally evil actions. but no matter how we try, we will fail.

there was only one perfect man, and He alone is 'innocent' enough to bear our punishment. and the best part is, HE was willing to.

Jesus died for our sins on the Christ to absolve us form guilt, eternal death, and punishment.

He IS our lamb that was slain.

and that is why today, i can live in peace, not stressed about having to be punished for my sins.

Friday, April 18, 2008

call it forth

today's devotion copied from the new creation church website.

Romans 4:17
… God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;




“Pastor Prince, I feel the pain in my body. How can I go around saying that Christ has redeemed me from this sickness? How can I say that by His stripes I am healed?”

Well, God’s way is to call those things that are not as though they are. And because you are made in God’s image, you can also call those things that are not as though they are.

When God wanted to make Abraham a father of many nations, what did He do? He changed the way Abraham talked. At that time, Abraham did not even have a single child from Sarah because she was barren. So how could he become a father of many?

God changed the way he talked by changing his name from Abram to Abraham, which means “father of many nations”. (Genesis 17:5) Just imagine: From then on, every time he met someone, he would say, “Hi, my name is Father Of Many Nations.” Every time dinner was ready, Sarah would call out to Abraham who was out in the field, “Darling… Father Of Many Nations … dinner is ready! Father Of Many Nations…” You can just hear their neighbours saying, “They want a child so much they have gone mad!” But God changed the way Abraham talked, so that he called forth what God saw him already blessed with.

You know, when Jesus saw the man with a withered hand, He did not say, “My goodness! It is so withered!” He said, “Stretch forth your hand!” (Matthew 12:13) He called forth what He wanted. He looked at the paralytic and said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk!” (Matthew 9:6) He did not see the way it was in the natural. He saw the way God meant it to be and He called it forth.

Genesis 1 tells us that in the beginning, there was darkness over the face of the whole earth. God saw the darkness and He said, “Light be!” And light was. God called forth what He wanted and it became so! If it were you or me, we would probably have said, “Whoa! It is so dark!”

My friend, despite the pain, call forth your healing. It is pointless to state the obvious. No, change the way you talk. See the way God meant it to be, and start calling forth your healing and wholeness!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

go ahead and use your authority

Exodus 14:15–16

15And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. 16But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.


i really like today's scripture and the devotion i read pertaining to this.
many times christian pray pleading prayers, and we are waiting for results before we believe.

but God asks us first to believe, then we will see the results.

when we pray, we should pray filled with faith, knowing that God answers our prayers. we should not 'hope' for God to answer, because that connotes some level of unbelief.

faith is the confident expectation of good. we know God will work things out for our good. what a great God, what a merciful tender loving God he is.

Thank you LORD God for answering my prayers. Thank you Jesus, you are my high priest, my lawyer before God, and the one who saved me and made everything perfect for me.

Thank you for protecting my family. Amen.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

jesus understands our struggles

Hebrews 4:15
15For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.