Understanding of Matthew 7

Understanding of Matthew 7

1.
Effective prayer is when you, keep on asking, keep on looking and keep on knocking. If you are to do this, you will be given what you ask for, you will find and the door will be opened. (paraphrase of Matt 7:7)

This reminds me of what Suzanne shared with me before, “Keep on pounding on the door, keep on asking for an answer.”

When you keep on ASKING, trusting and knowing that your Father in Heaven only wants what is best for you, (Jeremiah 29:11- “For I know the plans I have for you, … plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”) he will GIVE and you will FIND that DOOR that will be OPENED.

2.
“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really wolves that will tear you apart. You can detect them by the way they act (outward action), just as you can identify a tree by its fruit… … A healthy tree produces good fruit and an unhealthy tree produces bad fruit… Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is produced.” --- Matthew 7: 15-17, 20

The outward action of a person is the way to identify him as a disciple or not. Like the analogy above, a person who is not a disciple of Christ is not able to obey the Father, to abide in Him.

However, be warned in your life that while you might be producing the ‘right’ kind of fruit in your life, what is the motive behind it, obedience in God? Check out the subsequent verses that follow:

Verse 21
“Not all people who sound religious are really godly… the decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven”

Jesus even goes on to say that those who do such ‘godly things’ are evildoers (NIV), unlawful, unauthorized!

Oh boy, so how?

I’ve come to learnt that as much as the Word warns us things to look out for, it never leaves us hanging. Read on in Matthew 7 and you will see that the solution to being a good tree is clearly stated.

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise…But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish…”

And I know that the Holy Spirit in us will teach us the teachings, show us what God is saying to us. Our part? Obedience. =)

My maternal grandparents during CNY. They are celebrating their 60th anniversary.

My birthday present from australia

cny photos

Chinese New Year 2006

CNY and situation at home

Chinese New Year has been really up and down this time round. Up cos of many things, like the ang pows of course, and spending time with my core family and my extended family. Took loads of photos which i will post tomorrow. 2nd day saw us going down to Meridien Changi located near Changi Village. The weather was great and we all trooped to the pool for a lesuirely afternoon swim to soak up the sun. It felt so good. Got a tan and a cool off on a hot hot day esp after suffering from insomnia the night before (which resulted me in watching gilmore girls the whole nite) check out the pool we were swimming in. The view is amazing too! Check out the room too, one thing that is interesting is the bathrooms have glass sides facing the bed. (with curtains of course if you need the privacy) All very "honeymoony" if there is such a word.



A funny little incident that happened though was my poor cousie Siew San (aka jason) was mistaken for my boyfriend again. Haha you super poor thing. If you are reading this, i forgot to mentioned it to you but Sherwin (tracy's bf) tot you were my boyfriend and not a relative! I'm sorry le.. what to do, we look compatible together.

Thank Yous

Thank You's

Just wanna say a big thank you to all who wished me happy birthday on this 23rd year of mine. Really, thank you so so much... Joel, Sam, Andrew, colleen, gl, abi, lariena, Kinyew, gen, everyone in the office, my family, my aunt, popo, gen gen, ben ben, lil, paul, xiuling, yuru, eewah, gavin, daniel, jamie, alex, kat, chris, BX, josh Tingni, P.Joel, Ivan, Jeremy, Daryl, Hannah, KAnglun, LIngnah, justin, all at alpha and of course my sis!

I dunno whether i left out anyone, i'm sorry if i did. Thank you so much everyone!

colla

A pictoral post.

1. My grandma's birthday on 14th Jan.
Ever year, we would celebrate her birthday together by gathering together and having a good meal. 2006 was no exception.

photo of me taken by my cousin

my aunts and uncles.

my grandma in red

2. As you read below, my cousins marcus and ryan are staying with me. Here are some photos of them playing sparkles with trace and me outside my house. photos are a little blur so apologies for that.

ryan playing with sparkles very cautiously at first. He was a little afraid of it at first but he was all right after the first one or two.

trace showing ryan it can be done. i decided to play with my camera's settings, increasing the exposure and reducing the shutter speed. and ta da! we caught the sparklers like this!

an extremely blur photo of marcus making circles with his sparkler.

3. 23rd birthday celebration. my birthday is officially tomorrow but due to my working schedule, my church friends celebrated my birthday on friday, 20th Jan. It was suppose to be a 'suprise' birthday party but well i kindda got wind of it a few days before but i acted suprise =) we had an amazing cheese cake which was extremely chessy.. yum yum. extremely huge piece each one got and i couldnt even finish my piece. thank you all. after that we hung out at starbucks... just to sit around.

Hannah and I (the lady behind the whole evening)

the fantastic cheese cake... doesnt look lethal but it is.

anthony and a big mug of...

from left: anthony, ivan, me, andrew, chris, daniel

(according to them, i'm the thorn among the roses... ... whatever)

4. making jam for pineapple tarts. okay, making pineapple tarts from scratch is more difficult thank you think. I helped my mom (alittle) the day my sis came home. All i did was to stir the mix so that it wouldnt burn at the bottom and that it wouldnt spurt. constantly stirring is no fun .. no fun at all.

pictoral evidence of me helping out.

a myrid of stuff

A Myrid of events

My gosh, so many things have happened i dunno where to start!

Okay, first and foremost, i went to a Backstreet Boys concert today! My aunt who stays with me bought these amazing front row seats... Instead of entering through the normal north, south east west entrances, we went in through the premier entrance on the ground floor of the indoor stadium! Not bad eh? heheheh.. and of course i waved my light stick madly. Not entirely a huge fan of backstreet boys but it was extremely entertaining .. just a little paiinful to the ears. this boy behind us, he kept screaming. Not a manly scream mind you , one of those piercing types which you feel like your eardrums are going to burst at that very moment.

the other important thing that recently happened is that my cousins are in town! The auntie that is staying with me, (tracy) has a brother i fondly call ah hiah. He has been staying with us for a month now but last week, his family came from Perth for holiday. he has two adorable sons, ryan, 5 and marcus, 8 this year. I have photos of them playing sparklers which i will post once i get the photos uploaded.

these are just two things that have been happening. Much is happening in the office as well. if i get time durinig lunch break, i shall update. =)

Till more.. =)

I love this song, may we all look for beautiful souls and not just pretty faces =)

Artist : Jesse McCartney
Title : Beautiful Soul
Album : Beautiful Soul
Genre : Pop

[Chorus]
I don't want another pretty face
I don't want just anyone to hold
I don't want my love to go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul
You're the one I wanna chase
You're the one I wanna hold
I wont let another minute go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul

I know that you are something special
To you I'd be always faithful
I want to be what you always needed
Then I hope you'll see the heart in me

I don't want another pretty face
I don't want just anyone to hold
I don't want my love to go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul
You're the one I wanna chase
You're the one I wanna hold
I wont let another minute go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul
Your beautiful soul, yeah

You might need time to think it over
But im just fine moving forward
I'll ease your mind
If you give me the chance
I will never make you cry c`mon lets try

I don't want another pretty face
I don't want just anyone to hold
I don't want my love to go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul
You're the one I wanna chase
You're the one I wanna hold
I wont let another minute go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul

Am I crazy for wanting you
Baby do you think you could want me too
I don't wanna waste your time
Do you see things the way I do
I just wanna know if you feel it too
There is nothing left to hide

I don't want another pretty face
I don't want just anyone to hold
I don't want my love to go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul
You're the one I wanna chase
You're the one I wanna hold
I wont let another minute go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul
You beautiful soul, yeah

the last two weeks of the year

The last two weeks of 2005 ....

flew by (still flying actually) in a whirlwind of events. Some significant ones that happened include:
1. Love A Kepala in season

What is "Love A Kepala"? Translated to mean 'love ahead', Love A Kepala is the acappella group i'm in this Christmas. As part of ForeRunner, Love A Kepala was dotty dotz's management project which she did a fantastic job at! The program was amazing. I love everthing about the program, the turkey song, shopping song, Sharon's amazing testimony and what else, the song that hold's the title of our program, "a love that will last".
















So much has occured in this past two weeks and i just dunno where to start. We had a christmas party (B&S) at my place where JJ brought i think 6 friends (medicine friends, rugby, random friends). we had fun playing games, followed by caroling and stuff. Thank you all (the guys) for cleaning up as the gals had a pedicure session. =)

Oh, went to watch Chronicals of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I enjoyed the show but tot the kids were a little stiff. Like Andrew, i tot Mr and Mrs Beaver were awfully sweet and cute. Their bantering (lao fu lao qi) very sweet. hahaha.

hmmm what else? Oh, went out on Christmas Eve to Orchard Road and boy was it crowded! It was like a riot there, where almost everyone was armed with a can of foamy stuff. The Objective? JUST SPRAY ANYONE THAT COMES YOUR WAY! bleah. It was scary and i am so not stepping into Orchard Road on Christmas Eve anymore.

A lot more happen, but i guess i just a little lazy to blog. I'm a little sleep deprived, what with all the late nites due to work committments and holiday parties.

A new year, a new start. =)
Happy New Year everyone!

a busy Christmas

A Busy tiring Christmas.

Firstly, merry christmas to all! This Christmas has really just crept up behind me. didnt really get to savour Christmas, just rushing from place to place trying to connect. I really need to wind down at this end of the week .Maybe i'll take the whole week off. Day time to spend mcuh needed time with God. Got to attend Meta Conf in the evening.

Will update another day. Tired from it all.

2nd image for the winter holidays.

Patience

This morning's quiet time was about being patience - willingness to wait. Are we impatient all the time to know what's ahead, get what we want, see things happening? I know i'm often guilty of that.

But it's not just about waiting to get what we want. Ultimately its about waiting for God to accomplish his agenda in our lives. It says, "Patience is about how much we trust in God. The quicker we become uptight about life and our predicaments, the less we really believe that he is with us and is in control."

How much trust and yieldedness can i say i have in God if I'm not patient to wait upon His timing? I know that over the years, God's timing is the best. But it is the WAITING upon HIS timing which is the hard part.

When i did a word search on "patient" i realised that the Bible talks alot about the need to be patient. Here are just some.

Proverbs 16:32-32
32 It is better to be patient than powerful; it is better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

Zephaniah 3:8
So now the LORD says: "Be patient; the time is coming soon when I will stand up and accuse these evil nations.

Romans 2:4
Don't you realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Or don't you care? Can't you see how kind he has been in giving you time to turn from your sin?

Romans 12:12
Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful.

2 Peter 1:6
Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent

New Google icon

Here's a new google icon to add to the ones i already have ...

The previous ones were:

Here are some photos of the Outreach Comm Anthony and I head in our church. They are a bunch of amazing youths! I am proud and honoured to know them!





2nd Row: Jansen, Daryl, Alvin
1st Row: Anthony, Colleen, Jingyu
























Colleen and Jingyu are new gals who recently joined the sec 4 girl group i teach in church. Classmates in SCGS, they are beautiful 16 year olds, with a huge heart. You should see them in action in the hospitals -> No edging is needed i tell you.

As you have probably read in the tag box on the left hand side, i have the honour of knowing these 2 guys. On the left, Christopher, is currently part of Love A Kepala, the acappella project in FR i'm currently involved in. I've known him for wow.. many many years and he is like a 'jie mei' to me. the very few people i actually open up to. Guoliang on my right, was my SP (i.e. Secret Pal) I went to work that day and came back to a 'candle light dinner' all for myself and a card (not written by him... he got caryn to write) though he really quite ah beng (yes you are, GL) but he is a fantastic guy, lao shi, dependable, just rough on the edges.

SYC photos

SYC Camp - 9-12 Dec 2005

Held in church, SYC was a cosy crowd of about 50 this year. everyone got to know one another, through games, meal times and workshop sessions. I got to hang out with my gals a lot more and it was good fun!

Here are some photos.

Learning from Team Prayer

Learning from Team Prayer

"One thing I ask of the Lord,

this is what I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to seek hin in his temple."

--- Psalm 27:4

Like any other Thursay afternoon, we had Team Prayer in the office. It was a time of sharing what we have learnt from our quiet time as well as a time of praying for ministry matters. This afternoon, Pat shared something really sweet. Last week, being really busy at work, coming back late almost every night, He didnt have an opportunity to spend time with the kids (Kyrie and Ryan) as they would have gone to bed already. on a tue morning last week, pat woke up to see kryie standing at the side of the bed just looking at him. When asked y she was there, Kyrie (who's 3 on dec 18) said, "i miss you daddy."

Pat drew a parallel to our relationship with God. if only we desired to be with our daddy just like little Kyrie. she missed her father, the father who played with her, taught her stuff, (even scolded her). She stood at his side just waiting, just gazing at him, and waiting for him to wake up.

I thought about my own walk with my Father in Heaven. Have i been waiting upon him? Seeking, gazing at him? Desiring Him?

Stomach Flu?

Stomach Flu Situation?

Not feeling too good still in my stomach, I decided to make a wild guess and check out the symptoms for stomach flu on the internet. Here's what i got:

When you have stomach flu, you may have one or more of the following symptoms:
nausea
vomiting
stomach cramps
diarrhea
mild fever
fatigue
chills
loss of appetite
muscle aches.

Of all the symptoms mentioned, i have been having stomach cramps, diarrhea, mild fever, fatigue, chills, loss of appetitle and muscle aches. sigh. Maybe a mild one. Internet says that it will take 1-3 days to get over with and usually does not need medication. so, Praying that it will be over soon...

Psalm 23 comes alive!

Psalm 23 comes alive.

Weekends as usual are filled with tons of things. With so much to do and not excatly tip top in health, plus, I didnt have time to spend personal time (PT) with God and I was running on my own strength. Hence, i was hit by a wave of attacks. I felt like i was back to sq one, unable to handle conflicts that came my way. I couldnt understand nor comprehen things. I seem to have lost the mind of Christ.

On top of that, i was confused cos of many conversations i had over the week. Like what my quiet time said today, i lost all sense of direction. I was like groping in the dark, and i was hesitant to take the next step. But God was there.

In Psalm 23, it talks about the valley of the shadow of death. The Hebrew word for that doesnt just mean death. It refers to all dark and bitter experiences. it is broader that it appears. When i read it, i thought, 'hey, i can relate to this!"

But the verse doesnt stop there. It reads,

"Even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me."

----- Psalm 23:4

Though i cant see him, God reminded me that HE can see me and he knows excatly where i am even though i didnt. AND he will give me excatly what i need (not what i want but what i need).

=) Hope it encourages you too.

Desiring Less?

Contentment - should we desire less?

As i was making my journey down to work one day, i decided to give my songs on my ipod a rest and to take that time to feed my soul. I played an audio sermon by Dr Larry Crabb entitled 'Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled'.

In John 14:1, Jesus says, "Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me." This if spoken by anyone else would have sounded silly and really simplistic. But not so if Jesus says it. In the previous 2 chapters (i.e. Chpt 12 & 13) Jesus has just told his disciples to relate to each other in a way that it exposes them to painful rejection (want you to wash people's feet, humbly serve others, give up all efforts to impress, abandon all strategies to protect your own soul). Take a HUGE RISK in how you relate. He also revealed that one of them (his disciples) would betray him and that even the leader of the group would fail badly (Peter denying Him three times)

Yet, He says after that in John 14:1, "Do not let your heart be troubled." What does He mean?

Is He saying, "Stop wanting so much, deadened your desires and be content." That is what Buddhism says.

To be content you need to want less. end your desires and you will be content. Decrease your desires and you will find perfect peace. Stop wanting.

But is this what He says? How can He say this if our desire is built into the fabric of our life by our Creator.

"Do not let your heart be troubled. TRUST IN GOD, TRUST ALSO IN ME."
Jesus doesnt ask us to kill our desires, He asks us to deepen our desire in HIM. Deepen and you will find Joy amidst suffering. It is our deepest desire that allow us to realise that the rest are nothing.

He shares 3 points:

1) Hope of Heaven gives us the courage to look deeply into our heart when life is hard and to discover our deepest desire.

2) Path to discover our deepest desire REQUIRES that we feel our lesser desire (both pleasure and pain)

3) Only when we discover deepest desire in Christ, satisfaction in CHrist will we be able to richly love one another.

after listening to this sermon, I was encouraged that God doesnt ask us to kill our desires, to be a dead soul which doesnt expect anything. But He asks us to desire Him more so that we can find Joy in the midst of our suffering and our pain.