Saturday, August 27, 2011
-4:51 AM
You Are Loved
A counsellor was conducting a family therapy session with the parents of a teenager who had been caught using drugs. The parents excused their daughters' drug use, saying that it was no big deal and just a phase that most teenagers go through. After a while the counsellor told the parents to leave the room and, turning to the daughter, asked her what she had heard. She replied, "I heard that they don't love me."
The counsellor realised that the daughter was dabbling in drugs to get her parents' attention. If she had felt genuinely loved by them, she would have wanted to love them back by choosing not to disobey.
Like that daughter, I often disobey my heavenly Father. My sin distresses me, and I beg God to help me love Him more. While this isn't a bad thing to pray, Paul says that it's even more important that we understand how much God loves us. Only when we appreciate "how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is" will we be eager to love him back (Ephesians 3: 18).
Consider the many ways God continually loves you. He overcame incalculable odds just to bring you into existence, and ever since then He has sustained your life with food, family and friendship. He gave His life for you, dying on the cross so you might live with Him forever.
He didn't go to all this trouble to let you drift away, so He "disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child" (Hebrews 12:6). No child enjoys boundaries and discipline, but imagine how you'd feel if God didn't care. God loves you too much to shrug at your sin, so rejoice when you feel His firm hand of discipline. It means you are loved.
Plate (taken from this month's issue of ODJ)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
-4:56 AM
(This message is taken from the website "Messages of Hope".)
Hello dear friend.
I remember once when my daughter was very young, and needed to go into hospital for a small operation. She was very afraid of being left alone, afraid that her parents would not be with her, and she asked her mother "Please, Mom, come in with me?" It broke our hearts to tell her that we could not go in with her, despite knowing that she would be well cared for by the medical staff. I remember well the tears in her eyes as she was wheeled away into the theatre, and I offered up a small prayer, asking God to calm her and look after her.
Of course, it all went well, but it occurred to me that we as adults are not much more than children before God at times, when we too fear being left alone with our troubles and concerns. So many times we are faced with difficulties that we feel incapable of handling, and we immediately look for a hand to hold, some comforting presence of another person who will go with us, re-assure us and help us through the ordeal.
Well, God's word promises that when we feel that fear, we only need to remember that He is the one who will be with us through it all, he is the one who will not leave us or forsake us. That is God's promise.
So if you are facing what seems to be an insurmountable challenge that is making you afraid, remember that you are still a child to God your father. Speak to him, say "Please, God, come in with me?"
And be assured, He will. Always.
I pray that God will give you peace today.
posted by Plate :)
-4:50 AM
Despair, discouragement, sadness and depression can affect us all, at any time, even the strongest of us. And it is such an affliction that when it strikes we feel totally unable to cope, we feel completely overcome. So what is to be done about it? The old adage "into every life a little rain must fall" holds little comfort, and it is all very well to say "Chin up! Things will be alright", when we are down and unable to stand. When we allow discouragement to enter our lives, very soon its bedfellow despair moves in, quickly followed by sadness and depression. So is it an ever-spiralling downward fall? No! What we need is the strength that comes from hope!
The psalm 42:5 above was written by the Sons of Korah, temple musicians and assistants, as ministry to those who were discouraged, and it shows that even in those times they realised that HOPE was the weapon to uplift.
With hope we can be strengthened and encouraged in our difficult times, with hope we can believe that all will once again be well. And it will, for when we place our faith and hope in God, He has promised to bear us up. As it reads in the passage from Lamentations; "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him".
So if you are troubled today, remember to place your hope and faith in God, who has promised to help you. Promised! And that is a promise that is never broken!
May God bless your life in more ways than you thought possible.
- Plate
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
-4:23 AM
HEY SALTies :D
There's SALT on friday in the library from 2:45- 4:30. We're allowed to wear the SALT shirt (with pinafore :))!
seeya there :)
Monday, February 7, 2011
-4:24 AM
Movies and morals (or, another fail!entry)
So. On last last Saturday, there was this sort of emotional breakdown and just my luck, Happy Feet was on Channel 5. (I've never watched it before; that's how much of an introvert I am, heh.) So in a few minutes I was feeling perky again (not to mention a load of help from someone else).At the end of the movie, my parents came home and my mum, with whom I had had quarrelled with before she'd gone out, asked me what I was watching. And then, I had this kind of epiphany. 'Kind of' being the key words. I just garbled this to my mum in a stroke of epiphany-ness. (If you've watched Happy Feet before, you might get this. If you haven't then. Uhm. Go and read it up on Wikipedia or something ... I guess.)Mumble can't sing. So what does he do? Instead of singing, he dances. What's that fuss?Humans can't understand PenguinSpeak. However, Mumble's dancing - his actions and behaviour - catches their attention and this enables the penguins to reach out to the humans and have them stop overfishing and depleting the penguins' fish supply. The moral of the movie : Actions speak louder than words. "But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. ... but the one who lives it out - he will be blessed in what he does."
- James 1:22-25 Read and heed James' advice. Do not just listen to the Word and go 'uh-huh, yuh yuh' or spout stuff about God and be done with it. No. Live out God's Word. Demonstrate His love in your doings; show compassion and understanding and bring people to Him through your actions. "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have the works? Can this kind of faith save him? If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat well," but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it? So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself."
- James 2:14-17As much as you say you're an angelic person with a kind heart, quarrelling with people, not helping others and being rude proves your point wrong. Listening to the Word and still partaking in sinful indulgences; saying one thing and doing another; believing in God and not being a good testimony only results in one thing : Redundancy.
Always bear in mind that your behaviour and actions are things people notice more about you.
On another note: If you have anything to say to anybody now - an apology, a thank-you-very-much, then say it - and don't forget to be it. Saying 'sorry' with airs and a hoity-toity attitude isn't going to help much. It takes a load of your chest and it's always better to say or do things when there is time to say or do it.
There. I do hope I managed to get the basic points across without too much wrinkling-nose-in-disgust-or-confusion. I do hope I get better at this sort of postings, too.
God loves you. Very very much.
-eatingpaper
-4:07 AM
"2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
Growing in Faith
3 By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
10 So, dear brothers and sisters,[
c] work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. 11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
- 2 Peter 1:2-11 NLT
Ever felt frustrated? Ever felt really tired of trying? Ever felt like living this life God has called you is such an uphill task, almost impossible? (I have! :P)
Everyday school life
can be is really stressful.. Sometimes, it can be so hard to be loving, patient and well, Christlike. But the truth is (though it doesn't always feel so), God has given us everything we need to live a godly life!(2 Peter 1:3-4)
'For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.' 2 Cor 1:20 What does this mean? It means that His promises don't depend on our merit, on our mistakes, or our 'good works'. Christ has already paid the price for our sins, and made a way for us to go to the Father!
His promises enable us to live a godly life. (On the flip side, it also means that on our own, we are unable to live a godly life depending solely on our own effort.) Even it doesn't feel like it, its true, if you're a believer in Christ.
"3 By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires." 2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT
So the next time you feel tired, stressed or frustrated, (or even when everything is going good haha) talk to our heavenly Father about it and trust in Christ's work and all His promises :) and if you fail or fall, (cos it does happen), don't worry, just remember Christ's work on the cross and ask His forgiveness :) God gives grace :)
(Oh btw, one teacher suggested to us to listen to and keep and remember a particular promise of God every week. haha it helps :))
-bees
PS yeah, do point out any mistakes etc :)
"14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." Heb 4:14-16 NLT
Thursday, January 27, 2011
-4:55 AM
A Change - and horrible analogies.
"He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"
"- Luke 5:35-39
I'm sure quite a few of you - if not
all of you - know this string of verses. It's about Jesus bringing something new (Christianity) into Judaism. But here, I'll offer you a horrible analogy of these verses.
Take yourself as a wineskin. You are an old wineskin, and in this new year, you feel brittle and about to break from all the bottled-up new wine in you. You can't adapt to the new school year, , or perhaps something life-changing occurred over the holidays and you're all muddled-up and squeamish inside. All this is making you uncomfortable and you feel on the verge of breaking down; but the tear in you is always, always there.
You try to change - to patch up yourself with the new cloth, but it doesn't match you, and only serves to enlarge the tear.
Or perhaps you are a new wineskin, but the wine in you is old. You're shrinking and shrinking (as new cloths do) and yet the old wine in you is not used up. Full to bursting. You're not quite sure what to do with the old wine in you. Maybe there are still loose-ends from last year that you need to tie up. Maybe you're finding it hard to let go of certain things - friendships, relationships, an indulgence? Maybe you're stuck in a bog; or slipping down a landslide; or crossroads away from God, with no idea how to get to Him.
So, now, how? Me, I'm a sort of mix between an old wineskin and a new wineskin. And I find it difficult to gradually become a
new wineskin with
new wine, but I'm working on it, with God's help(: He makes everything a whole lot better. Especially when He's there for me to bring my prayers to.
Just trust in God and know that he put every single thing in your life for a special reason. He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you. He will never give you difficulties that you can't overcome. At times when you're at your lowest, it may feel that God's not listening to you, that he doesn't care, but get this :
No matter how you are, awkward or looked-down-upon, God
always accepts you. No matter how you feel inside, torn up and breaking down, God is
always here for you. No matter how hard it is to let go or open up, God is
always holding onto you.
He loves you. Forever.
"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
"
- Romans 8:38-39
Be persuaded, too. Know it, believe it, live it. (:
trying to be someone you're not is a waste of the amazing person you are.
(And don't forgot about tomorrow's SALT session!)
(And feel free to point out wrong interpretations, spelling and grammatical errors, etc.etc.)
-eatingpaper
