the river of the Holy Spirit

Jesus said, "Whoever believes in me ... streams of living water will flow from within him" (John 7:38). This refers not to water but to the Holy Sprit who, when turned loose in our lives, strengthens, grows, and gives us vibrancy. As we allos the Holy Spirit to proceed from God and grow stronger, deeper, wider, and more persuasive, our spiritual and physical person takes on a new, eternal, and abundant life. Only as we allow the Holy Spirit to flow in our thoughts, emotions, will, desires, dispositions, actions and activities does spiritual transformation take place. Then people can look at us in the midst of tribulation and say, "I think I see the Son of God." Our captors can look in the fiery furnaces and see us walk in confidence as we are accompanied by the fourth man.

I wan God's waters to flow deeply and widely and expansively throughout this being of yours and mine. I want the river of the Holy Spirit to so fill and guide me that I become a remote temple from which a branch of God's river can flow. I pray that God will let the waters flow in me, as I pray you will ask God to let His waters flow in you.

the 3 things in life

3 things in life, that once gone, never gone back:

1. Time
2. Opportunity
3. Words

3 things in life that can destroy a person:

1. Anger
2. Pride
3. Unforgiveness

3 things in life that you should never lose:

1. Hope
2. Peace
3. Honesty

3 things in life that are most valuable:

1. Love
2. Family & friends
3. Kindness

3 things in life that are never certain:

1. Fortune
2. Dreams
3. Success

3 things in life that make a person:

1. Commitment
2. Sincerity
3. Hard work

3 things in life that are truly constant:

1. Father
2. Son
3. Holy Spirit


I ask the Lord to bless you, as I pray for you today; to guide you and to protect you, as you go along His way. God's love is always with you, God's promises are always true, and when you cast all your cares to Him, you know that He will definitely see you through! God Bless You! =)

pray without ceasing

Prayer is one of the unlimted resources available to each of us. In this bound-up world, prayer may be a lost art, but it is always the starting point when we move towards God. In prayer we set aside our agendas, letting God's priorities become our piorities, and we receive his resources.

You don't have to learn some special prayer jargon to start a conversation with God. Honesty and a willingness to establish a personal relationship with Him are the only initial requirements. God is looking for an opportunity to reveal himself to you, so if you put him to the test and then watch for an answer without to many preconceptions about how that answer will come, I can guarantee you that you'll be in for some exciting surprises.

God emphasizes the importance of prayer. Needs are supplied, problems solved, the impossible accomplished through prayer. Therefore we ought to pray. We may not feel like it, but we ought to. We may be discouraged, but we still ought to pray.

We are always to pray -- not merely when we have a need or only at some set of time, but always. The line to heaven is always open. We are sometimes prone to make our own plans or decisions before we pray, but we should pray about everything first.

Not only are we to pray, but we are not to faint. Perhaps we have been praying about something for a long time and do not see the answer. We may think God hasn't heard or doesn't care. However, we are not to faint!

God's friends

How do you like your friends? Do you like them to be faithful, loyal, encouraging, thoughtful, caring, loving and kind? But how many of your friends have actually met up to such standards?

Friends are people, and people are not always faithful and kind. Just look at some of the people Jesus called his friends. Peter was always interrupting and telling Jesus what he should do. Then there was Mary Magdalene, whose sordid past was well known. Indecisive Thomas never stood up for his opinions. Then there was also Nicodemus, a "chicken" for not showing his face in the daytime.

These people had their own fair share of problems to face. Nevertheless, Jesus valued them as friends. He didn't expect them to be perfect; he expected them just to be themselves, faults and fine points together. And all he asked of them was their love. Love for him and for each other.

Perhaps you're the type who forgets appointments or birthdays. Housecleaning doesn't seem to top your piority list. You get intimidated easily and fail to stick up for your friends. Aren't you glad that none of these things disqualify you from your Lord's circle of friends?

Jesus says that you are his friend if you do two simple things: Love God and love others. cheers!

be joyful in hope

I wondered why God asks us to be joyful in hope? I can understand why He reminds us to be faithful in prayer -- so many times in hardships we slack off in prayer. I can also understand why God asks us to be patient in affliction -- patience is hard to master when you're hurting.

But why does God say to be joyful in hope? Obviously, there must be many times when we lack joy in hope. Think about it for a moment. The focus of our hope is yet to be fulfilled; we don't yet possess that for which we hope. And you'll definitely agree with me that it's hard to be joyful about something we don't yet have!

Lying in bed, it hit home that God wants me to be joyful about future things. Just as we have the command to be faithful in prayer and patient in affliction, we have a command to be joyful in hope. How can God command joy? It's easy once we realize what's over the heavenly horizon.

Does the idea of heavenly glories above put a smile on your face? Do you get charge when you talk about the return of the Lord? Heaven will seem more near and real to you as you stir up your joy over that for which you hope. And remember, it's a command for your own good.

the way of faith

God is ever seeking to teach us the way of faith, and i believe that in our training in the faith life there must be room for the trial of faith, the discipline of faith, the patience of faith, the courage of faith; and often many stages are passed before we really realize what is the end of faith, namely, the victory of faith.

Real moral fiber is developed through discipline of faith. You have made your request of God, but the answer does not come. It happens to me sometimes, but what am I going to do?

Keep on believing God's Word; never be moved away from it by what you see or feel, and this as you stand strong, enlarged power and experience is being developed. Often God delays purposely, and the delay is just as much an answer to your prayer as is the fulfillment comes.

Abraham, Moses and Elijah were not great in the beginning, but were made great through the discipline of faith, and only thus were they fitted for the positions to which God has called them to.

When God has spoken of his purpose to do, and yet the days go on and he does not do it, that is truly hard; but it is a discipline of faith that will bring us into a knowledge of God which would otherwise be impossible.

oh happy day!

The greatest day in history
Death is beaten You have rescued me
Sing it out, Jesus is alive!
The empty cross, the empty grave
Life eternal You have won the day
Shout it out Jesus is alive

He's alive!

Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

When I stand in that place
Free at last, meeting face to face
I am Yours, Jesus You are mine
Endless joy, perfect peace
Earthly pain finally will cease
Celebrate Jesus is alive

He's alive!

Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

Oh what a glorious day
What a glorious way
That You have saved me
Oh what a glorious day
What a glorious name!

all around me

enjoy! =)

what is the purpose of my life?

hey folks, this is just a summarised version of what i shared during class devotion today. enjoy!

i have recently been stumbled upon questions like what is the purpose of my life? what is the main reason that we are here for? in fact, life is just the preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my BODY -- but definitely not the end of me!

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions and trillions and trillions of years in eternity with God. This is just the "warm-up" act (or rather, the dress rehearsal). God wants us to practice on earth what we will do for eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make any sense. Life is a series of problems: you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. where are you at?

The main reason for this is because God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is interested in making your life holy than He is making you happy. We can be resonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in God's likeness.

This year has been one of the greatest beginnings, and it has also it's fair share of tough times. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. But now I don't believe in it anymore.

Rather than life just being hills and valleys and all other geographical landforms that you can think of, I believe that it's more of two rails on a railroad track, and at times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are, there's always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are, there's always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. which will you choose? If you just focus on your problems alone, you're going into the road of self-centeredness where everything is all about 'which is my problem? my issues? my pain etc.' But amazingly, one of the easiest way to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We have to learn how to deal with the good and bad times we face in our lives.

I have heard of a story of Rick Warren, the author of the book 'Purpose Driven Life' and in one of his interviews he was talking about how God has helped him about the 'wealth' he received from this book, he said "Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, 2 Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free."

and just based on this short interview alone, i realised that we need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressure? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Pride? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes for my life?

I make it a habit (on top of my quiet-time) that when I get up in the morning, I will sit on the side of my bed and say, "God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better." Remember, God didn't put you and I here on this earth just to fulfill a to-do-list. He's much more interested in who you and I are than what you and I do. That's why we are called human beings and not human doings.

to end this of, just remember that in:
HAPPY MOMENTS --> PRAISE GOD!
DIFFICULT MOMENTS --> SEEK GOD!
QUIET MOMENTS --> WORSHIP GOD!
PAINFUL MOMENTS --> TRUST GOD!
EVERY MOMENT --> THANK GOD!


-take care and God bless! =)