Tue, Feb 28th - 8:59PM

Jo-YoU-s

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." - Romans 15:13 (NIV)

Joy is an attitude that we can adore all day, compared to happiness that is caused by circumstances. Yes, James did describe ways to feel joy that we cannot imagine we can be joyful of:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds" James 1:2 (NIV)

So, what is this joy that the whole Bible talks about?

I just got a terrible headache yesterday and went to see a doctor unfortunately. He merely just gave me medicine but did not give me a Medical Certicifate for me to rest. My heart almost stopped. Then what? I need to go back to work? Worse, I had to wait for a bus for almost 2 hours plus just because I missed the first bus back to my work place. That feeling is just unbearable, especially bearing a headache of such magnitude. I did tell silently to God: Today's just not good.

Then, I came back to my workplace. My boss looked concerned and asked if I was alright. I told him the situation. Then came the surprise: "Go back and rest." I almost want to jump for joy. Wow. That's like a prayer answered.

Then I rested at home and then came a call from my friend. He asked of my condition and then told me that he had discussed with my boss that I should deserve another day of rest for all the hardwork and dedication to the service. Wow, that's more than I asked for. Seriously. I immediately jumped for joy, thanked him and praise the Lord!

Paul's letter to the Romans indeed is a reflection of what I had experienced. This joy is given by God to all of us for our faithful love, obedience and trust in Him. It's your joy that God will give to each of you (and me) that will bring each closer to Him by praising Him. Jo-You-s hearts will be yours and His.

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy" 1 Peter 1:8 (NIV)

I just saw one of my friends' MSN nickname and saw "Isaiah 51:12-13". I'll end this entry with the passage one verse earlier:

       "The ransomed of the LORD will return.
       They will enter Zion with singing;
       everlasting joy will crown their heads.
       Gladness and joy will overtake them,
       and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

       I, even I, am he who comforts you.
       Who are you that you fear mortal men,
       the sons of men, who are but grass,"

Isaiah 51:11-12 (NIV)

Desmond Signing off

Mon, Feb 27th - 8:13AM

TiReD's OuT!

Have you ever think this life just sucks? When you feel so tired trying just to survive this life on Earth. Study, study and more study or work, work and more work? That's so crazy, so routine this life is. Well, we are not alone. The Preacher in Ecclesiates expressed just what you are feeling:

  " 'Meaningless! Meaningless!'
       says the Teacher. 
       'Utterly meaningless!
       Everything is meaningless.'

  What does man gain from all his labor
       at which he toils under the sun?

  Generations come and generations go,
       but the earth remains forever.

  The sun rises and the sun sets,
       and hurries back to where it rises.

  The wind blows to the south
       and turns to the north;
       round and round it goes,
       ever returning on its course.

  All streams flow into the sea,
       yet the sea is never full.
       To the place the streams come from,
       there they return again.

  All things are wearisome,
       more than one can say.
       The eye never has enough of seeing,
       nor the ear its fill of hearing.

  What has been will be again,
       what has been done will be done again;
       there is nothing new under the sun.

  Is there anything of which one can say,
       "Look! This is something new"?
       It was here already, long ago;
       it was here before our time.

 There is no remembrance of men of old,
       and even those who are yet to come
       will not be remembered
       by those who follow."

(Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 - NIV)

If I could para-phrase, it would be:

Life is so full of futility, that it is frustating working for human-orientated gains. Life is so short, routine and spins around in circles that you can be fully satisfied. History will repeat itself and there is nothing new in terms of experience or lesson learnt. People will eventually forget about us and our contributions.

Probably, I can relate this to James' accusation of the rich:

"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days." (James 5:1-3)

What does these two passage have in common? It's futility working for earthy gains.

When my friend asked me more about the Purpose Driven Life, I told him that rich man will die a sad man. Why? Because he will die unsatisfied of his life. The higher man goes, the more he will want. That's human instinct. I guess history can testify my statement from the suicide cases of many famous and powerful men.

We will come to this earth empty-handed and will also leave this world empty-handed. So why work for things that will perish in the end? That's futility, so meaningless, as the Preacher described.

But Why God still want us to go through such a life? One of my Bible Study teachers told us of a poem of God pouring His blessings with a cup, namely of strength, of wisdom onto man. However, He stops short of pouring His blessing of rest onto the latter. You may wonder why. God does not want man to rest because he will take God's other blessings for granted and will live for the gifts of God and not for God.

Then comes God's lifeline:

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Eternal treasures are what we are supposed to store. Jesus emphasized:

 "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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

Do God's purposes in our life with the gifts you have (God wants us to do what we can do best for Him), and we will feel immese joy, as our pleased Master will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" (Matthew 25:23)

How about some earthy things like earning money for survival, study etc? Yes, we still need them. If we feel tired doing them, do them for God.

"For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God." (Paul in Galatians 2:19)

Still feeling tired? How about Jesus' promise to us: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)? We still got Jesus and the Holy Spirit to lean on... Praise the Lord!

Be happy because we have done God's Will and store up eternal treasure. No longer a tiring life, what says you?

"There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His excellency on the clouds. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:26-27)

Desmond signing off @ 2140 hrs

Sun, Feb 26th - 7:30AM

In-Spirited

John 3:6-8 - " Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

Interestingly, I found a game that talks about the Holy Spirit. It plays like this: A team of 4-5. You need two person to pull a long string attached with a plastic cup. Your group objective is to blow the cup back and fro.

Then I brought my small group members to this passage and explained: The Holy Spirit is like a wind: you cannot see but His infinite power is like the force of the wind. Then I led them into the topic: The Spirit's leading.

However, maybe I re-name it In-Spirited (after Inspired) here.

Quite a lot of my youths (and I bet some of you will) ask me: How you know if it is the Holy Spirit who is talking and guiding you in the midth of so many voices (your own voice, the Evil ons's voice or any other...)

Romans 5:3-5 - "Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, becase God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us."

Paul did describe to us a bit about God's gift to us: The Holy Spirit. We can know that these will be some of the "surely it's the Holy Spirit who speaks" signs:

1) He definitely comes when we are suffering, because in sufferings, we will cry out to God for help and our sufferings are real to God.

2) The Holy Spirit will come to teach us good character -> Let's compare this passage to Galatians 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness"

Thinking of it, was Paul linking "character" in Romans to the fruit of the Holy Spirit "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness" in Galatians? So, the Holy Spirit will want us to learn these virtues when He talks to us and guides us...

God will never want to contradict His Word. Hence, the 3rd point will be:

3) The Holy Spirit will guide you according to His Will and Word.

Once my friend said, "If you do something for God that your heart feels so resisted to, that's God's Will." Although taking it with a pinch of salt, I must admit that this is quite true. Definitely, the Holy Spirit will never guide you to do wrong. Your own personal desire may not be what the Holy Spirit's leading you to.

Have you ever wonder why when you are about to do something against your conscience, there will be a knocking at your heart, prompting you with a sweet voice, "Hey you are not doing the right thing..."?

God gives all of us a conscience (fortunate or unfortunate -> Remember Adam and Eve ate at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and sinned? Is this how conscience come about?)  so that we can know good and evil. However, He gives us the Holy Spirit to add to it!

<added on 02/03/06> I just found this verse on John 14:15-17:

"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you."

and John 14:26:

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

So... Are you In-Spirited now? Haha...

Desmond signing off