SIMbiosis

Law Courts [Deut 17:8-13]
8 If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the LORD your God will choose. 9 Go to the priests, who are Levites, and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. 10 You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do. 11 Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. 12 The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. 13 All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.

Read this passage last night and while I was reading it, there are 3 things which can be pointed out. (We don’t possess all wisdom. There must be actions accompanied. Obedience is essential.)

About the first point where we don’t have all wisdom, it is evident from verses 8-9. Notice that there are many things and cases which are beyond our wisdom to make decisions? So, what are we supposed to do when we meet an obstacle in our daily lives and do not know what step to take next? Have we forgotten that God is Almighty, possess all wisdom, understanding and knowledge?

Many times, we turn to our closer friends, turn to teachers and who not, but we fail to inquire of God. God has already a plan lay out before we were all born! He is just waiting for us to ask and seek Him. You may ask me, “So how can I know of the plan He has for me?”

Obviously, it is to pray to Him! There are many ways where you can find out His plan in addition to praying. Open your eyes and see what He has done for you in the past. Where has He been leading you too? To be more efficient in this, you must be accountable to your spiritual overseers. There is a reason as to why there are spiritual leaders in your life. They are there to help us see the things we can’t see.

Secondly, there must be actions accompanying the aftermath of the query. This is reflected in verses 10-11. We cannot afford to stop short at the first step of just identifying that we are in need. A problem is not solved by being able to identify it. It is solved when we act upon it with the wisdom that God has granted us and the visions He has shown us. The word that God has spoken to us must not be just mere words! It must be carried out in accordance! No compromise must be allowed. A compromise is cutting off some slack in what God has said, which is a direct disobedience shown to God. Then why did you inquire of God in the very first place? We need to see the importance of affirming and respecting God’s word. We need to not only listen, but do what He says. We can choose to turn a deaf ear and forget what He says. We can turn away and forget the voice of God. If we do this repeatedly, we will lose the unique sound and tone of His voice. This is when spiritual deafness and death creeps in. How scary is it for one to lose this sense of hearing of a beautiful voice but the One who is our Savior, Redeemer, Creator, Father!

Moving on to the last point of being obedient, this can be explicitly seen in verses 11-12. If we do not believe in God’s plan, then why are we praying to Him? Why do we ask Him for His opinions? Definitely we ask because we acknowledge that there is a far more Supreme Being, which is God Himself. So with trust, comes obedience.

Remember the times where you asked God for a direction and yet doubted? It is common to Man as we are creatures with a very short memory span, you might argue. Come on, we can remember things we learnt in the kindergarten, so that is not an excuse. The reason why we don’t put our COMPLETE trust in Him is because we trust in ourselves more. Do we pray for Him to be magnified while we are to be diminished?

When we reach the stage where we fail to execute EVERYTHING that God has commanded us to do, we have reached the stage where we are utterly blinded by our strengths, especially when we fail to look beyond our abilities. Have we forgotten where our strength comes from? It comes from the Lord!

With obedience comes faith; with faith comes spiritual renewal and awakening.

Hence I conclude that we ought to take a look at our individual lives everyday. See and listen intently to what God wants to do in your life. Give all you have to Him and He will embrace you with His riches. In Christ, we have victory!

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Ps119:105

bentay

Labels: Hot Stuff

WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 10:58 PM

Illustrations of Christian Victory - Winning in a Sports Game

We had gone through yesterday, about what it means to have true victory in Christ. Today, we will explore some illustrations that the Bible uses to depict victory.

Many of us play and enjoy sports. And those of us who do may have participated in some competition at one point or another. Some of us would have experienced victory in winning some game or tournament. It is certainly a wonderful feeling, after all the hard work put in to train and prepare. Coming back to today’s discussion, the Bible relates being victorious in Christ to winning in a sports game.

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. - 1 Cor 9:26

One of the games quoted in the Bible is boxing. In boxing, you score by striking your opponent. In the above verse, Paul uses boxing to illustrate Christian victory, that one does not beat the air aimlessly, but hits the opponent. This means that as we attempt to be victorious in Christ, there is real purpose and intent in our actions, like the boxer who throws the punch, to hit his opponent, to achieve a result. Are our lives filled with such purpose and intent as we go about ministering and living out a victorious Christian life?

Another game that was used before to illustrate victory would be wrestling. In the Bible, there was a real wrestling match that took place between Jacob and God.

So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." - Gen 32:24-28

Wrestling is an intense sport and requires every part of our body. It is impossible to remain aloof and unentangled from the opponent. The opponent will seize every opportunity to regain his advantage. No, in order to win the wrestling match, one must involve his whole body in combat, and be constantly pushing oneself to be better than his opponent. Jacob was engaged fully with God in wrestling and did not give up until he got what he wanted from the Lord.

In the New Testament, wrestling is also described as struggling:

Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. - Col 4:12

I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. - Col 2:1

It is easy sometimes for the Christian to fall into complacency, into a lull, when he fails to realise that achieving victory as a Christian is like being in a wrestling match. When one becomes complacent, he lets his guard down and the enemy or opponent can quickly seize the chance to gain an advantage in our lives. The victory we had achieved moments earlier could turn out to be shortlived if we do not keep up the struggle. As we deal with an opponent (the devil and our own sinful nature) that never sleeps nor tires, we can only achieve victory in Christ by constantly being on guard, and constantly struggling to defeat our opponent, with God’s strength.(Tangerine says: Do we have this mentality of "aiya..like this can already.."? When we get complacent of our own spiritual life, and stopped a certain spiritual level, Devil will try to do something. As we became more spiritually matured, Devil also becomes more powerful too. We grow, he grows. When we get smarter, Devil also gets smarter. Even if you dont see Devil now in this point of time, do you think that Devil really disappear for good? I think the answer is NO. Though we may not see him now, actually he is back to his military base to think of greater plans to make us fall.)

Finally achieving victory is also likened to running and finishing a race.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. - Acts 20:24

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. - 1 Cor 9:24-27

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Phi 3:13-14

Paul described winning for the Lord as finishing the race. It is worthy to note that in Paul’s illustration, winning is not about running faster than your fellow runners, but rather finishing the race. Furthermore, while anyone can start or run the race, Paul suggests that not everyone will or can finish the race. (Tangerine says: what strikes me here is the word "running". The word "running" to me means we are walking right beside God, that we are continually building up our spiritual life(not staying on the same spot), doing what God wants us to do. "Running" is kicking away our bad habits, and always continuously learn from Jesus and to be more like him, and not staying at the same spot, the same self when we said the sinner's prayer.Our christian lives is like running a marathon.

At the start of the marathon, all of us are very enthusiastic, wanting to reach the finish line. This is like when we are young Christians, we are new to everything. We are eager to know more about Jesus, what He has done. In the middle of the marathon, some of us feel tired. At this stage, we can see two groups of Christians. There are some who persevered on despite the bad conditions of the road, the weather, and completed the race by crossing the finishing line. But there are also some who chose to give up running and finish their race when they haven't even reach the finish line . When they see the obstacles in front of them, they gave up. When Satan comes, they feared and raised their white flag immediately without fighting back.

All of us eventually will finish our race. But is the finishing line that you cross over is God's, or our own finishing line? )

As a naturally competitive person, which most of us may be, the first point was particularly important to me. I used to think that my value and purpose is achieved in defeating the person next to me, my competitor. If I can do that, I would have ‘won’, achieved victory, gained respect. However this is not the case in the Christian context. Achieving victory in Christ does not mean defeating your fellow runner, but rather defeating yourself (sinful self) or anything or any authority (Satan, his schemes) who stands in the way between you and the finish line. It is to cross the finishing line well. It would be even better if we could help and inspire fellow runners to finish the race with us.

All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. - Matt 10:22

Conclusion

All in all, when we say that achieving victory in Christ is akin to winning a sports game, we need to be fit to win. Like any good sportsmen, we need to train, condition our body, our muscles, to be able to win the game. Be it a race, a wrestling match or boxing, we need good spiritual muscles to sustain the fight and achieve victory. Let us train our spiritual muscles well to last the race, to win the fight.

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. - Hebrews 5:14

Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. - Hebrews 12:10-12

Reflection points:

Is there purpose and intent in the things you are doing for Jesus now? How effective are they in ‘flooring’ the opponent?

Are you spiritually complacent? How does that usually happen?

Labels: Hot Stuff

WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 4:03 AM

Hey peeps,

If you have a on the spot response regarding the Posts as u read them, I suggest lets do sth different! On the spot go and edit, add in your response or comments to the passage itself with a different color (and indicating your name!).. So that it is quite a free and easy response and not only that, we do see one another responses to the Posts as well..!

And of cos, do take these reflection posts seriously as well, to continue to think and ponder and pray through them. =)

Hope to see more colors coming up on the Reflection Posts k!!

serving together,
Carrie

Labels: Hot Stuff

WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 4:13 PM

True Victory in Christ

And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:18)

Jesus spoke this to Peter and His words are very much alive till this day. The church was indeed built and established through the acts of apostles like Peter and Paul, after Jesus’ ascension to heaven. Jesus says that the gates of Hades shall not overcome the Church. This means that the Church is to enjoy victory over the works of Satan and his minions.

Are we experiencing victory in our lives? Can we say that we are living victoriously, as part of God’s Church, the Church that the gates of Hades will not overcome? Or for most parts, our lives are being overrun by the ‘gates of Hades’, meaning Satan’s plans are being achieved and fulfilled in our lives?

When things go our way, does it necessarily mean that we are experiencing victory in Christ? True victory in Christ? And when things do not go our way, does the contrary apply, meaning we are not experiencing victory in Christ?

These are samplings of the issues we will explore this coming camp, A Victorious Church. The following are a few pointers on what kind of victory would be the kind of victory that God wants to see in us.

1) A Victory that is of Value to God

The kind of victory that God wants us to have is one that is of value to Him. (Tangerine says: A lot of us still struggle with how people think of us, who are we in their eyes. We based our victory on how people look at us, our achievements, the qualifications we have, the schools we came from, the school we’re in. But we’ve neglected to see this in God’s perspective that there is always a reason why I was from this secondary school, from this JC, from this university, in this caregroup. At first, I may not understand why all these things happened. But slowly, as time flies, God allow me to see why I’m here. If I’m not in this JC, I wouldnt have met great friends like sherlynn,claris and shirley. Who say SIM students CMI? SIM students can also live victoriously. It is the willingness of our heart whether we want to follow God’s will a not. It’s whether we want to slack our three years here or make use of this 3 years fruitfully) Many people attempt to be successful in life, with varying results. It is inborn in us to want to achieve, to want to be successful. However, though we may succeed, not every of our achievements may be of value to God. We need to search the Word of God to discover what are of value to God, and seek to achieve these things. God says that the things that are of no value to Him will ultimately be burned away.

Take for example, the world values material wealth or status as a common benchmark for success. But wealth and status by themselves are things that are of no value to God.

Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil. – Prov 15:16

Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. – Ps 39:6

To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. – Ecc 2:26a

Let us be wise to invest our lives in things that are of value to God.

2) A Victory that is Eternal

In the same light as the previous point about achieving victory that is of value to God, we should set about achieving victory that is eternal.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. – Mat 6:19-21

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. – 1Tim 6:17-19

The things that are of value to God, that are eternal, are sometimes things which are insignificant in the sight of the world, such as being good, being generous, taking care of God’s flock. (Tangerine says: Gold and Jewellery, qualifications are significant in the sight of the world. It may seem eternal from the worldly view as all these are the benchmark on how society grade us. But, if we care a lot of the worldly view on us, we actually neglected the things that are of value to God, neglected what God sees is eternal for us. We come to this world empty-handed, with no money, no qualifications, no clothes, nothing. All that we have now is given to God. Eventually, all these will be taken back from us. )However we know that this world will pass away one day, that the things of this world are but temporal. Let us choose to invest in eternal things that will last, that is in souls of men, that is in living a right life in the sight of God.

Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. – 1 Pet 5:2-4

3) A Victory that is according to God’s Will.

“The good is the enemy of the better and the better is the enemy of the best.” This is an important saying that we can take note of. Having the kind of victory that God wants us to have is to go for God’s best, and not settle for second or third best. God’s best is what God’s Will is for us.

Having success alone is not a true measure of whether we are experiencing victory in Christ. It is to consider also whether it is what God wanted us to have. (Tangerine says: the success we see in ourselves may not be what God sees. We can be considered as successful if what we are doing/ getting things that God want us to do, want us to get, and in accordance to His plan.) Many a times we are just happy with experiencing success, but we do not ponder if it is truly what God wants for us.

Jesus had a chance to experience success, all the riches and power and authority in the world. However He turned it down as it was not going to be achieved in God’s way.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. – Mat 4:8-10

It is easy to be deceived when we are successful, to think that we are victorious, that we are walking right in God. Sometimes we are so desperate to justify ourselves before God, by assuring ourselves with successes in our lives. We go after these things, but some of them are in actual fact short-term gains, or the second, third best that God has for us. We fail to consider God’s Will for our lives, His best.

Jesus in contrast took the hard and painful way to achieve true victory, not the easy way which was to quickly gain all the riches of this world. He chose to do what was God's Will for Him.

Conclusion

When we go for what is eternal, lasting and valuable to God, we will sometimes receive scorn from other men, we will get deplored from men who do not understand God, His ways. However God teaches us to look not to the praises of men, as the Pharisees were prone to doing, but rather to the praises of God Himself. God also teaches that we should look forward to receiving heavenly reward from Him as well, as we continue to seek to do His Will. Hence let us learn and persevere to seek to achieve the real, true kind of victory that God wishes, that God wants us to have. Only then will we be the true victorious church of Christ.

Labels: Hot Stuff

WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 4:09 PM

Let me remind all once again!! Here is the Uni-YA website for the reflections which 10 days into the start of Uni-YA camp! there is daily reflection waiting to be chewed and devoured by u....yes YOU!! =) I pray that as we do so, God is gonna add so much more as we choose to prepare ourselves and allow Him to come and search us. Be humble and contrite and allow Him to search us. The first step of transformation starts with humility and awareness.
http://reflectionsofadisciple.blogspot.com

Below is the first opening entry! You will find 2 more entries after this entry waiting for u on the website!!

Dear members of the Uni-YA community!

This will be the first blog entry of the Uni-YA camp. As mentioned by the camp committee and your leaders, we will be focusing much more on equipping this coming camp. You would by now have received the list of workshops conducted in camp. The workshops you attend would attempt to equip you specifically and practically in the common challenges and issues of the typical young adult, so that you would be able to live out and actualize a victorious life in Christ.

We will explore as well in the next 10 days in the lead-up to this camp, various facets to what it means to have victory in Christ. This whole month of May shall be devoted to learning and refreshing ourselves with the Word of God, in the area of having victory. We want to be victorious. We are wired up to want to be.

Let us look forward to a great time of learning and bonding this Uni-YA camp!

Labels: Hot Stuff

WOOHOO! I LOVE JESUS! 10:21 PM

Dear bunnies! How's your week so far?

Let me share some parts of my week!