I was the chairperson for care group this week. Although I tried to object the 'offer' many times during JDMM, the decision was final. Julian would get so annoyed with me if he was there. Well, another swell chance to improve my chairing skill. I talked quite a lot. And my words were still flying everywhere! Geesh! I still struggle during prayer after Praise & Worship.
Each session started and ended quickly. The game was OK. 2 people were asked to guess what the 3 mimes were acting out. Wee Kiat can't stop laughing at my miming. What was the matter with mine? He acted out the answers during his part
I thought I hadn't guessed any rightly but I got 2 points in the end. During testimony session, Wee Kiat shared a touching one about friendship. It was about when his relatives suggested that he should go to UTAR to study. But his best mate planned to study in MMU. After all the preparation he had done, he left them aside and accompanied her here. He never regrets it. Shin Jie shared hers as well. So I began to ask Khai Lyn, Ben, and Abraham if they would follow their best mates to study somewhere. Khai Lyn said that she came to MMU with Su Han but they weren't close back in their hometown. Eventually, they've became best friends.
During sharing, all of us never gave a chance to Khai Lyn to finish her sharing. She gave examples as if they were real. We kept asking why should we do that and how must we treat the people well, etc. We brought up so many questions and talked to one another about it till it pissed her off - nah, not really. After that, Khai Lyn passed a piece of paper to us. I have no idea what it's for. Khai Lyn asked us to write down our name at the love on the left and on the right - the name of the person we are having grudge with.
I wrote my name on the left as I thought of the person's name. I hadn't been writing the name for quite some time. I was allowed not to write but it wouldn't be fun if I leave it blank. So I boldly wrote it. And I don't feel relieved. Let's cover the cross. Without Jesus in the middle, we'll be on our own. When a conflict rose, our love grew further from each other and there's no way we could get the friendship back, like this...
But with Jesus in the centre, He'll restore our friendship. As we folded the cross, the love came closer to one another. I was moved.
As the Word stated,
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Romans 12:19 "Do not take revenge, my friends..."
Proverbs 25:21 "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink."
1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..."
Matthew 5:43-48 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbours and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends down rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Currently loving,
"千年泪" by Tank, "When Your Heart Stops Beating" by +44, "Girls Allowed" by Girls Aloud, "Have A Little Faith In Me" by Mandy Moore, "对手" by 郑伟康 Ft. Tank, "Make You Smile" by +44, "White Lies" by Girls Aloud, "圣堂之门" by 阿沁, "换季" by 金莎
3 say(s):
Learning to Pray the Right Prayer
"You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask [pray], you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives." James 4:2-3 (NIV)
Some time ago I took a psychological test that, among other things, measured how much I was in touch with my major emotions of love, wonder, guilt and fear. On a scale of 0 to 100 any score below 30 was considered repressed.
On fear I scored 5!
This concerned me because I knew that repressed fear could cause me to act out blindly by setting myself up to fail at work or in relationships. I didn't want to do that so I prayed earnestly that God would deliver me from my buried fear. However, I realized I was praying the wrong prayer. I was focusing on praying for deliverance from the symptom rather than from the cause, so I changed my prayer to: "Dear God, my real prayer is that I don't want to face that fear. I'm too afraid. That's why I buried it. Please give me the courage to face and deal with the real cause/s of my fear/s."
The point I'm making is that we need to learn to be honest in our praying. For example, if I can't stand my neighbor and, wanting to impress God, piously ask him to bless my neighbor while in my heart I despise my neighbor, which prayer does God hear? He hears what my heart is saying. Only as I admit this can God help me to love my neighbor and bless him through me.
By the way, it took me two years to resolve the fear mentioned above. It was caused by the death of a sister that I loved dearly when I was a small child. My fear was that if I loved someone I might lose them. In time I discovered that I had a few more hidden fears to deal with as well. Since facing and resolving these fears, my close relationships have improved dramatically.
How can you tell if you have any buried fears? Look at any symptoms in your life. Do you have a pattern of failure at work or in relationships? Any phobias? Any floating anxieties that you have no idea where they are coming from? Any physical ills such as ulcers or any addictions that you may be using to avoid facing something you have buried?
And how do we overcome such fears? I don't know any easy solution but for me it began with a genuine desire to overcome them. Next, I needed to accept full responsibility for resolving my fears and stop blaming anyone else for them. Above all, I needed to ask God to help me to be honest with myself, to give me the courage to face my fears, and to lead me to the help I needed to overcome them.
@@: "Dear God, please give me the insight and courage to see and deal with any repressed or hidden fears in my life, and lead me to the help I need to overcome the causes of these. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
It seems that "someone concern" has been "concerned" about u of late.. It's a good thing though. I just thought it worthy to note that it'll be better if WE choose to be specific in our prayers if WE want specific answers.. I'll leave u to think about it... btw, when's d Family Cum event?
David, yeap, i agree that we should be specific in every of our prayers. after all, He did teach us how to pray, right? hahaha!
you don't know about the event? very sad! hahahah .. well, it's on Nov 3rd. anything, just approach any of the Impact Ministry, ya? (me me me!)
someone concern, thanks for your long comment. but i guess it's not personally from you? thanks again, cheers!! :)
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