More than just pull-ups

MY STUDENTS were posed a challenge by their coach the other day. They had been working on their pull-ups at a pair of pull up bars for some time already and had been pushing themselves a bit already. What the coach challenged them to do then was considered almost laughable; only one of thirteen people dared to try it at first. His challenge for them was to cross from one pull up bar to the other. The bars were about 50-80cm away from each other. He showed them it was possible: positioning your hands right, kicking of the wall, then transferring hands from one bar to the next.

One by one they tried, some more than once. They learnt from each other and some of them managed to do it. One guy in particular, had tried, but could not reach the other bar because he was afraid to let go of the bar he was holding onto and as a result of the reluctance and split second delay, he fell onto the mat. But he fell reluctantly letting go of the bar he was holding onto. He was afraid to let go and and trust himself to move. Yet at the same time, he did not want to give up, he did not want to fall. I related so much to that boy. So many times my heart is there wanting to do something, and I am not wanting to give that up, but at the same time, I do not give my all and have faith to move out. My coach used the word, comfortable. We get to comfortable with where we are; we know we must move, so we try, but our hearts are too used to the comfort and find the risk to big to overcome.

It was all in the mind, the coach said. How you tell your body to go on that is important - whatever skills needed, that will come later if your mind is set on it. The coach posed a final challenge to them: to move from one bar to the other by letting go of the bar completely; it meant that one literally had to jump from one bar to the other. He showed it could be done and after that told us he had never done it before.

The battle first starts with the heart of the mind - not the knowledge part, but the part of the mind that echoes what our hearts think.

Lord, help our unbelief. We want to see the victory; we want to see the multitudes.

Depending on God

This is something I have always wondered about: how will I know that I'm trusting God? How will I know that I'm relying on him and not my own strength? Will it feel any different?

There's no easy answer, but there are several symptoms of a dependent heart that we can look out for:

(from dictionary.com, one of my favourite websites! Haha)

To rely, especially for support or maintenance: Children must depend on their parents.

We Don't Worry
This means that we depend on God the same way we depend on our parents. We depend on our parents (ok, at least I do) to provide and for guidance. When I depend on my parents, I mean that everyday when I come home from school I expect my key to still fit in the lock and my bed to still be in my bedroom etc. I don't think twice about it. I don't worry that my house will have disappeared, or that my electricity will be cut off. I don't worry because I rely on my parents to take care of these things.

In the same way, when I rely on God it means that I don't worry about the things he has promised to provide. I don't worry that my sin is too big for God to forgive:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

I don't worry that I won't have enough sleep for tomorrow (something I have been feeling very passionate about lately, hahahaha)

In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves. (Psalm 127:2)

I don't worry that God will forget about me and leave me alone

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

We're Always Thankful

(okok but it's true!)

If you trust someone to do something for you, the natural response is to thank them, right? So one of the symptoms of depending on God is a thankful heart.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever. - 1 Chronicles 16:23

The alternative is pretty gruesome:

Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. - Acts 12:23

Like Job, we ought to give thanks whether in good or in bad:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised." - Job 1:21

We Pray!

We pray because (not as if) our lives depend on God.

Look at the example of Hezekiah:

Hezekiah trusted God. We know because God says so:

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. - 2 Kings 18:5 (It doesn't get much plainer than this)

In chapter 19, we see what Hezekiah did in the face of opposition: he prayed! If we depend on God, we would cast all our cares on him. We would trust him with all our problems and pour out our concerns to him, and plead with him to deliver us. This is because we know that our lives depend on him!

In the same way you plead with your teachers to extend deadlines (haha I'm a teacher now so I get a lot of it!) because they have the power to (ok not always), if you trust that your lives and family situations depend on God, you will plead with him to deliver you.

- Denise -

Friends or Family in Christ?

Pastor Yeang Cherng shared at our last leaders' meeting a question which I am sure would have crossed the minds of many in our church. One of my friends who joined our church in the last year framed the issue nicely: Why is it that even though we meet at least once a week in church, that we do not get as close to each other as we would with other friends outside of church? The question was simple but cut straight to the heart.

In his sharing, Pastor Yeang Cherng compared how the differences between the role of the family and that of the friend affected the way we related to our friends and our family. Friends are formed based on common grounds - it can be hobbies, interests, lifestyles, age group - and are often to our choosing. Family is given to us. We had no choice, but because of the commitment and responsibility that we have towards each other in the family, the environment is stable and secure and we grow as a result.

Our relationship with Jesus is, in fact, based on similar concepts. Jesus calls us His sons and daughters because before we even knew him, before we were born, He made a deliberate decision to die for our sins. As Eph 1:4-8 says,

For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

He did not even have an emotional bond with us and was not even be able to have shared experiences with us since we did not even exist then. But He chose to redeem us still, regardless of how we responded to Him. For Him, commitment came first. Getting to know us and for us to know Him would come later.

He shows he expects the same of us too. We might first be drawn to Him because He understood what we went through, because He delivered us from difficult circumstances or simply because we are 'wowed' by His work on the cross. But He tells us in the bible that we would only be considered His friends if we do what He commands. Sounds absurd to associate friendship with obedience eh? But that is what it says in John 15:14,

"You are my friends if you do what I command."

God wants to test our commitment to Him. It is like the way we test to see if friends are worth keeping, in the effort they put in to keep in contact especially if the common grounds are lost. God does it by testing our obedience, because our response to that test would show Him if we trusted Him and believed that He will fulfill His promises and has our best interest at heart.

Christianity has always been different from all other religions in the sense that being part of a Christian community is one of our key principles. We meet each week in church because we have a common belief in God. Very often, we would not know many people well enough before we enter church and interests, hobbies, things which would bind others together in the secular context take a back seat as we focus on activities that is meant to stimulate our spiritual growth or church/tribe events. Is closeness sacrificed as a result? I would think it sometimes is. But does the lack of feeling mean that there is a lack of love? Perhaps love is better felt in actions than in feeling, in commitment rather than common grounds. Maybe the question to ask is whether we have been the friends that Jesus has called us to be - committed, tested and centred on the development of the other.


karen :)

Yoznet Tribe Meeting - Not Just Knowing the Armor, It's WEARING the Armor

I thought what Ps Yo shared during tribe meeting was very applicable to what was preached on sunday about the armor of God. I thought of some application to what was preached. Indeed, lets' learn to wear the armor, not just know the armor.

I was mediating on God's Word in Ephesians 6 when God brought my attention to the word, "FULL armor". The word "full" was repeated 2 times from Ephesians 6:10-13. The Lord reminded me that we must remember not just to put on selective parts of the armor, but the FULL armor!

The 5 strategies of the evil one in attacking God's people and how we can WEAR the FULL armor of God to fight against the attacks:

1) Deception
Thus we buckle the belt of truth: A COMMITMENT TO KNOW THE TRUTH

Application: Am I reading God's Word consistently and memorizing Bible verses so that you know God's Word?

2) Corruption (causing one to sin)
Thus we put on the breastplate of righteousnes: TO LIVE OUT THE TRUTH

Application: Am I obeying and doing God's Word?

3) Opposition
Thus we put on the sandals of the Gospel of peace: TO ADVANCE THE TRUTH

Application: Am I sharing God's message and the Gospel?

4) Intimidation
Thus we take up the shield of faith: TO BELIEVE IN THE TRUTH

Application: Am I putiing my trust in God's promises and not entertaining doubts?

5) Discouragement (which bring forth helplessness)
Thus we put on the helmet of salvation: To HOLD FAST AND REMAIN IN THE TRUTH

Application: Am I following Jesus faithfully and claiming the power of His Word steadfastly?


- Mabel-