Yay! Yesterday marked the end of Victorious Living class.
The teacher joked that this class was a kind of spiritual warfare as many times it was hindered by unavailability of venues.
So, yesterday, in order not to drag anything further, the teacher covered the last 2 lessons in one go.
There is no more test for Bible Study class. So, it was really the end.
Hmm, I am looking forward to the next Bible Study class!   

Another childhood anime! Watched a lot almost everyday on TV!
It was pretty popular that my friends and I played Go (or Weiqi) with each other   
To commemorate the anime, I will post the soundtracks.
Enjoy!

Due to severe haze last week, my CG meeting was canceled.
So, last Saturday after service I had dinner with the CG people.

  

Crunchy jokes over nice food!

My beloved Cg people!   

Had dinner with my god-parents and a friend last Sunday at god-parents’ house.

  

  

We had a lot of heart to heart conversation.
In addition, they celebrated my friend’s and my belated birthday.

 

Yayyyy! Happy birthday to me! Thanks, Mommy and Daddy, for the treat!
In addition, I have confirmed to stay with my god-parents starting in August.
East! Here I come!   

Due to haze in Singapore, there has been high demand of mask to filter out the air.
In addition to that, I heard the sale of air purifier has jumped up drastically.
In order to ease the demand of mask, the bookstore sold mask too last weekend.
Hmm, was the stock sold out last Sunday?   

If you need any/extra masks, do drop by at The Ink Room, ok?

Some time back, Pastor Kong preached about our authority in Christ.
Part of it was regarding repeatedly confessing “the money will come” and “the blessing will come”.
Since then, the church has been confessing like never before.

I was initially a bit hesitant to carry out such confession as I thought it might not be ‘polite’.
’Impolite’ to say it in front of God, the King of all, that is.
However, now that I think of it, confessing in this manner is nothing ‘impolite’.
In fact, confessing like this is a good practice to exercise faith in God’s promise.

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
-Psalm 91:14-16-

When God promises “I will rescue him”, our faith should respond with “God will rescue me”.
When God promises “I will protect him”, our faith should respond with “God will protect me”.
When God promises “I will deliver him”, our faith should respond with “God will deliver me”.
I don’t see any significant difference between confessing “God will protect me” and “The protection will come”.
Both are valid faith confession based on God’s promise.

By the same argument, “The blessing will come”, “The healing will come”, and “The money will come” are equally valid faith statement.
The Lord, through Moses, has promised health (Exodus 15:26) and material blessing (Deuteronomy 28:1-14).

[I understand there are genuine Christians who are not healthy or not wealthy. I will address this issue in the future]

Reminder to self: keep confessing. Just confess God’s promise no matter how tough the situation is.

 

Received a birthday card from church.
Even though I receive one almost every year, it still feels cool to receive one.
Yay!

On Facebook I read this conversation between a man and God.
It is very interesting.

Me: God, can I ask You a question?
God: Sure
Me: Promise You won’t get mad
God: I promise
Me: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?
God: What do you mean?
Me: Well, I woke up late
God: Yes
Me: My car took forever to start
God: Okay
Me: At lunch they made my sandwich wrong & I had to wait
God: Huummm
Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call
God: All right
Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massager & relax. BUT it wouldn’t work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did You do that?
God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one of My angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that
Me (humbled): OH
GOD: I didn’t let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.
Me: (ashamed)
God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick & I didn’t want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn’t afford to miss work.
Me (embarrassed):Okay
God: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn’t even let you talk to them so you would be covered.
Me (softly): I see God
God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a shortage that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn’t think you wanted to be in the dark.
Me: I’m Sorry God
God: Don’t be sorry, just learn to trust Me…. in All things , the Good & the bad.
Me: I will trust You.
God: And don’t doubt that My plan for your day is always better than your plan.
Me: I won’t God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.
God: You’re welcome, child. It was just another day being your God and I love looking after My children…

To be honest, I personally would love to have a conversation like this with God everyday.
There are so many ‘why’ questions in my mind daily and I really want to hear the answer immediately, if possible.
However, at the same time I realize that is not the common case.

Finished reading the book of Job a few days ago.
It’s the same thing: Job, despite his integrity, had so many questions in his mind regarding his suffering: WHY, oh God, WHY??
In addition, he wanted to contend with God like in a proper judicial procedure.
Interestingly, God NEVER revealed the true reason for his suffering: the devil wanted to test Job.
God simply showed him His power and wisdom.
In effect, He was saying to Job: Who are you, Job, that you want to challenge Me in a court?
Job then repented.

Naturally, I will have a ‘why’ question whenever I experience hardship.
Then, I will want to hear God’s answer to my hardship immediately.
In particular, I want to know whether the hardship is due to my mistake or other people’s or just some natural incidence or indeed the devil tests me.
Nevertheless, even if God does not answer me immediately, I should trust His wisdom in governing the universe.
God is in control. Always.

A quote from the movie Thor came to my mind: “There is always a purpose in everything your father does.”
Similarly, since Father God is all-wise, there is a purpose in everything He does even when the hardship comes.
My role is simply to trust Him even when I do not know the reason.
In the end, God in His wisdom may not reveal the reason of hardship. Nevertheless, I believe He will reveal the purpose of hardship.

Anyway, when I get to heaven one day, I may still want to ask God regarding my hardship.
I believe at that time God will give me the real reason.
Or, I may not ask Him as, by that time, I will have enjoyed Him so much that  I will have forgotten all the hardship.

  

Watched this movie with Cg people some time back.
A very good movie to celebrate Father’s Day as it depicts a father-son relation.

Kitai, the son, trains very hard to become a good ranger to impress his dad, Cypher, a ranger general.
However, Kitai failed and could only remain as cadet. Cypher, nevertheless, brought his son in a real mission.
Soon, their spacecraft was hit by asteroids. They then had to do emergency landing on the earth.

The earth was then filled with beasts.
Both of them survived the landing but the rest of the crew died. Due to the crash, the spacecraft was shattered.
Cypher’s feet were injured. So, he tasked Kitai to get a communication tool located at the tail of the spacecraft which was separated kilometers away from them.

Kitai began his mission, avoiding dangerous animals while listening to his dad’s instruction.
At some point, they both lost contact and Kitai had to fend for himself.
Remembering his dad’s initial instruction, Kitai picked himself up and finally managed to reach the tail of the ship.
However, before Kitai could even use the communication tool, he had to fight an carnivorous alien, Ursa.
Initially, Kitai was losing and almost killed. However, he remembered his Dad’s instruction that Ursa could sense fear.
He then suppressed his fear and fought Ursa back. In the end, he emerged victorious. Soon, he used the communication tool and the rescue team arrived.

I admired Cypher’s calmness even when the situation getting out of his control.

Somehow, I could see myself in Kitai.
My journey has been harsh and I think God allows that to shape my character and personality.
There is difference, though. Kitai had to fight for himself whereas God is with me all the way.

Danger is real. Fear is a choice.
In that case, I choose faith in my God, not fear.

John 14:6

The Jew mainly know God as Lord or Adonai. Lord Jesus came to reveal God as Heavenly Father.
How should a father play a role in the life of children?
A father will influence his children forever. A father should protect his children from bad influence they are not ready for.

Children typically dream to be heroes like Superman or Iron Man.
The good news is the children look up to their father as a hero.
5 ways to be a hero to children:

1.) Lead them.
Children instinctively follow their father and turn to him for guidance.
All children want their father to be proud of him/her.
A father may only have about 20 years to be with their children. He should lead them by staying true to moral conviction.

2.) Love them.
A son looks up to his father as a hero. A daughter looks up to his father as her first love.
Love must be pressed into children’s lives.
How to express love:
– positive words (expressing emotion via words or writings)
– quality time (children cherish the most when they spend time with their parents. When children rebel, it is ok to keep a distance. But don’t keep a distance for too long).

3.) Discipline them.
God is gracious and yet sets boundary.
Proverb 3:11-12.
A father should discipline his children in God’s wisdom. A hand of discipline should be covered with a velvet glove.
Too loose discipline and the children won’t learn, too strict discipline and they will hate.
For every discipline, there should be twice encouragement.
Proverb 22:6.

4.) model humility.
Humility may be taken as a sign of weakness.
Numbers 12:3
Moses was the most masculine leader. At the same time, Moses was very meek.
Humility isn’t weakness. It is starting point for anything great in life: repentance, faith and obedience, and success.
Matt 23:12.
Humility: accurate self assessment: recognizing strength and acknowledging weakness.
God loves us so much that He sent Lord Jesus to redeem us. How can then God not take care of our daily needs?
Such love should always cause us to stay humble.
Happiness is truly found when it is routinely denied. It takes more than money or fame or good look to be happy.
Self indulgence doesn’t require strength of character. How to teach humility? It can’t be taught. It is caught. We model humility.

5,) Teach them who God is.
Let them hear and see our prayer especially in the time of crisis.
It isn’t just in the church, but also in the family.
It is not about pushing God into their lives. It is about evangelizing through action.

You can download his sermon here:
http://theinkroom.com.sg/2013-the-father-to-our-children-15-june-2013.html