Charity...1Cr 16:14

1Cr 16:14

Let all your things be done with charity.

Every now and then, we would come across advertisements on TV and other media asking for donation to charities, to help the poor and needy. Therefore charity has been usually associated with material lack.

Charity originated from Greek word "agape", which means unconditional love.

For Christians, the purpose of our lives is to share the unconditional love of Christ Jesus (that's why we are called Christians). The church, being a collection of Christians for the purpose of sharing this Charity of God, existed to manifest the Charity of God.

Once you are touched by the Charity of God, the overflowing love in your heart will cause your charity toward other men to be effortless and unconditional.

Brethren, ask God for a revelation of how much Father loves Jesus, and that is how much God loves you. If you are a parent and you love your children, times that love a thousand times?...a million times?... a billion times? And may be, just may be that offers us a glimpse of God's love for us. Oh, I just can't help but want to love everyone on Earth whenever I am think of God's infinite love for me because my heart could not contain but need to share this life giving
water with the rest.

My friend, only when you have and understand the agape love of God in you and act according to the dictation of this love, you can be truly charitable and be a blessing to the world. Giving will be a overflow of you receiving from God, AMEN.

Closer...Amo 3:3

Amo 3:3

Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

Very often, our prayers seemed to be unanswered, and we were discouraged and even started to doubt God. Worse of all, we also felt guilty because we doubt God!

Brethren, don't fall into devil's trap! For he knew that though God no longer condemns us once we are in Christ, we can be condemned by our own conscience.

The truth is that Abba answers ALL our prayers! God is love (1 Jo 4:8), and He answers our prayers in His faithfulness and righteousness (Psa 143:1). It is us that, when the answers from God are not in accordance to what we prayed, maligned God for not answering our prayers. While we were focusing on the things that were prayed for, the loving God focus on His faithfulness and righteousness. Abba is faithful and righteous to answer ALL our prayers.

God loves you more than you love yourself! His love for you is at the same degree as how He love Jesus, even when you were still a sinner (Jhn 3:16)! I don't know the number of hairs on my head, but my loving Father does (Mat 10:30)!

Therefore, brethren, when your prayer seems to be 'unanswered', trust in Abba's love for you and your prayer has been answered in His best interest for you, abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph 3:20) and makes all His goodness pass before you (Exd 33:19). As a omnipotent God, nothing is impossible for Him. As a omniscient God, He foreknew your destinies.

Abba wants to draw us closer to Him, He loves us and craved for our love. He has given us the gift of righteousness through the death and resurrection of Christ, so that we can agree and walk with our righteous Friend (Amo 3:3), AMEN.

Lord, Lord...Mat 7:21

Mat 7:21

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Last night when I was having my quiet time, the Holy Spirit asked me, "Why do you address God as Lord when you pray?"

I answered, "Yes, it means He is my King, submitting my will unto Him and do His will"

And the Holy Spirit chuckled, "Is that so? What have you submitted to Him?"

Suddenly it dawned upon me that I have only selectively submitted to His Lordship in certain areas. A flood of guilt and condemnation immediately emerged but then the Holy Spirit arrested and convicted me of my righteousness in Christ, and despite all these Abba Father's love for me has (and will) never change(d) and I am still His beloved son. All the promises of Abba is still mine.

I was also reminded of the sermon by Pastor Joseph Prince awhile ago, where he touched on Mat 7:21. In that sermon, Pastor Prince expounded on "the will of the Father in Heaven".

Jesus in Hbr 10:9 said that He came to do the Father's will - to take away the first and establish the second. The first being the old covenant of works and the second being the new covenant of grace.

Hallelujah! What's this mean to me is that as long as I am trusting the grace of God in my life, even when there are areas that I foolishly did not submit myself to His Lordship, I am doing the will of God.

What this also mean is that in my walk with Christ, as He is transforming me more and more like Him each day, He is also putting more and more areas of my life under His Lordship all by His grace and none of my effort. Moreover, His Lordship is different from that of man (1Sa 8:11-18), for His burden is light and His yoke easy (Mat 11:30). The areas of my life that Christ has Lordship over are the areas the I have dominion over.

Trusting in the grace of God is the true submission to the Lordship of Christ that leads to true dominion over our lives, AMEN!

Happy...Psa 144:15

Psa 144:15

...Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!

Everyday, when we meet someone, whether or not he/she is a person we know, we asked, "How are you?" Basically, we are asking whether he/she is happy.

Everyone wants to live a happy life, but what is really happiness?

According to Oxford Universal Dictionary, happiness is "a feeling derived from satisfaction with one's circumstances."

Ruut Veenhoven, a leading authority on "happiness", described happiness as "the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his life-as-a whole favorably."

Looking at these two statements, it seems that happiness is the product of two factors, one external and the other internal.

The external factor is the circumstances that one's in, while the internal factor is how one judges quality of his/her life.

That's the best that the world can offer, either looking at others or ourselves, because they don't have God! However, we can look at God for our happiness.

When Jesus came and saved us, we are saved spirit, soul and body. Abba Father gave His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die not only to save us from eternal damnation while living in this world sick, poor and feeling miserable. No! His precious blood is worthy to save us bodily and emotionally, in fact all the faculties of our lives!

Abba Father wants us happy, and the good news is that He had already done His part! When Christ was scourged, died on the cross, risen and now sitting on His heavenly throne, all the external enemies of our happy - sicknesses, financial lacks and even death were removed from us by the Lamb of God when He took away the sin of the world (Jhn 1:29).

Abba Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus, and favors us as much as He favor Jesus!

Oh beloved, if even the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth is looking at you favorably, and even did not spare only begotten Son for you, would He not give you all things (Rom 8:32)? Furthermore, the life that is in you now is not just any other life but the life of Christ (Gal 2:20), the highest quality life that one can ever wish for! A life that is full of health, wisdom, power, grace and mercy.

Hallelujah! A Christian ought to be the happiest person in the world, because by His grace our external circumstances can only be good for He doesn't know how else to treat His beloved. Internally, how else can we judge the quality of our lives when we know that we are in fact living Christ's life, other than very, very, very, very....very good?

My friend, if you are still in your journey of pursuing happiness and have started to feel weary and tired, you need not go further. All it takes is to acknowledge Jesus as your Lord and Savior, surrender to Him and invite Him to live in and through you. If you do that, you have just become the newest member of the "Happiest People In The World" club. Moreover, the membership never expires, AMEN!

Olive Oil...Exd 27:20

Exd 27:20

"And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually.

In the New Testament, we are called the sons of light (Luk 16:8; Jhn 12:36 and 1Th 5:5), and Exd 27:20 offers a detailed picture of how Christ works through us to bring salvation to the world.

In Exd 27:20, children of Israel is a picture of Christians, the pure oil speaks of the Holy Spirit while olives typifies Christ.

Jesus Christ was beaten and crushed for us, so that we don't have to bear the punishment from God for our sins. In fact, His beating, death, resurrection and finally ascension were necessary for Him to send the Holy Spirit from heaven to earth, to teach us all things, and bring to our remembrance all things that we learn from the Bible (Jhn 14:26). The Holy Spirit also brings the gifts (1Cr 12:8 - 10) of:

1. Word of wisdom
2. Word of knowledge
3. Faith
4. Healing
5. Working of miracles
6. Prophecy
7. Discerning of spirits
8. Different kinds of tongues
9. Interpretation of tongues

Olive oil was also used for anointing of the tabernacle and everything there in to make them holy (Exd 40:9). This is a beautiful picture of the sanctification of the Holy Spirit (the anointing oil) on our bodies (the tabernacle) and every body parts/organs, to set them apart from the world the moment we believe in our hearts and confessed in our mouths the perfect work of Christ and that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.

If one has diseases in is body before this, this sanctification can heal and make him whole again.

If one was healthy before this, this sanctification can keep him strong and healthy for the rest of his life.

With this sanctification, the spirits and powers of this world cannot get near us, no destruction shall come near us.

Oh sweet Jesus, as I enjoy the great taste of olive oil. I am reminded of the anointing of Holy Spirit in my life and even my physical bodies. I also remember the price that You had paid, by Your crushing and death on the cross, to send the Holy Spirit to the world, to indwell in me. Jesus, I love you because You first loved me, AMEN!

Praise...Psa 7:17

Psa 7:17

I will praise the LORD according to His righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

I was awaken by the storm this morning, my heart was filled with joy and bursting with praise for Daddy God.

I praise You Daddy God, for the lovely wife and children, and the financial blessings that You have so kindly given me.

I praise You Daddy God, for the wonderful friends and colleagues that You have so kindly arranged to cross my path.

I praise You Daddy God, for the divine health and godly wisdom that You have restore upon me by the blood and body of Christ.

I praise You Daddy God, for Your divine protection and healing.

And most of all, Daddy God, I praise You for Your righteousness (Psa 7:17).

While it is natural to be joyful and give praise to our Father when we are experiencing good time, it is supernatural and even more beneficial to be joyful and give praise to Daddy when we are going through evil time.

Praise Daddy God through the evil time is a conscious choice, not a natural choice, staying in the consciousness of a big, loving, righteous Daddy God.

Daddy God is big, He is bigger, more powerful and wise than anything or person that you can imagine. He is the creator of everything (Gen 1).

Daddy God is love (1 Jo 4:8), and in Christ, I am inseparable from the love of God (Rom 8:39).

Daddy God is righteous (Ezr 9:15). The righteousness of God demands that through the perfect and finished work of Christ, He sees me in Christ - perfectly righteous (1Cr 1:30).

As I am concluding this writing in the evening, I received the news that the boy that my wife and I had prayed for had passed on due to leukemia and we are greatly sadden by the news. this sadness reminded me about the sorrow that was upon Jesus in Gethsemane (Mar 13:46).

My soul cried out "Abba, Why!?" but my spirit choose to sing praise, to look at and trust His love, righteousness, power and wisdom, regardless of what I see in flesh.

I believe in all of my heart that when I meet Daddy one day in heaven, He will tell me why. But as for now, I must choose to let my spirit reign over my soul and body, so that Christ may live through me.

Oh Daddy God, I thank thee for continuing to bless me with perfect health, so that as long as I live, I can continue to praise You, AMEN.

Abba...Mar 14:36

Mar 14:36

And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."

After the last supper, Jesus went with his disciples to Gethsemane, which mean oil press, and was straight away pressed hard (Mar 14:33), filled and deeply distressed with the horror of man's sufferings under the weights of their sins. Their sufferings were so horrific and the victims were so pitiful that Jesus felt so sad for man that His soul was exceedingly sorrowful onto death (Mar 14:34).

His love for man demand that He must fulfill the Messianic prophecies to the very last, going through the passion of death in His body, soul and spirit, in order to be the first fruit of eternal life, body, soul and spirit for man. Only Jesus, the sinless lamb of God (Jhn 1:29) is worthy of this task.

Lest we think that the Passion of the Christ is easy for Jesus, as He is the Son of God, the sweet Holy Spirit is faithful to record the prayer of Jesus pleading God to find another easier mean to save the sinners. Jesus is 100% man when He was on the Earth.

Jesus in His prayer in Gethsemane cried out "Abba", reflecting the tenderness of love between God the Father and God the Son. As a father myself, I can imagine the pain and sorrow that God the Father went through as He listened to Jesus' prayer and lovely cry of "Abba", yet must lovely answer Jesus' prayer with a "No" because there is only one way to save the lost, through the Passion of the Christ!

Brethren, let's not let Christ went through the Passion in vain by not fully claiming our position as a son of God (Luk 3:38)! Jesus forfeited His Sonship on the cross (Mat 27:46), so that we can cry out "Abba" to God to enjoy His tender loving kindness and protection, AMEN.