Ability vs. Availability

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

— 2 Corinthians 4:7


When Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, it was a source of complete amazement that these untrained laymen could be so well-versed in the Scriptures—and more importantly, in their understanding. They were ordinary fishermen, salt-of-the-earth-type people. This doesn't mean they were illiterate. But they had not attended the rabbinical schools or spent their lives in the study of the Scripture.

Acts 4:13 tells us that when these religious leaders "saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus." These simple fishermen appeared to be better-equipped than the professionals were. How did this happen? The disciples had been with Jesus. They were boldly sharing their faith. They knew the Scriptures. They were men who prayed.

This should give hope and encouragement to those who think of themselves as ordinary people. Maybe God has not called you to be a pastor, a missionary, or some professional ministry position. But God can use you too. It is clear that He is looking for ordinary men and women to bring the gospel message to others.

God can use you where you are. The opportunities are there. There is a mission field where you work. There is a mission field where you go to school. There is a mission field in your neighborhood. You are God's representative, and He is calling you to go into this world and speak up for Him. God is not looking so much for ability as He is looking for availability. So make yourself available to Him.

Food appetite

Have you ever wonder what kind of people, situation and mood will affect your food appetite? As I was having a meal the other day, this thought came to my mind. To me, it does makes a lot of difference! I am not trying to emo or bias here but I guess it will somehow affect your appetite if you are eating with someone you don't really know, someone whom you like(maybe your crush or your usual gang of frens haha! lol!) or even someone you don't really like? Imagine you are eating alone with somebody you don't really know, you will feel a bit awkward at the beginning because you have not much things to talk about except conversations involved like "What are you doing now? Studying or working? / How is your work etc..." For me, I will definitely don't enjoy my meal because i just feel that this kind of situation is too awkward already. It will make things worse when the other party is too quiet and there you are constantly trying to think of things to say to him/her, I guess this kind of meal is too tiring hahah! On the another hand, if you are eating with your usual group of friends, esp if you are feeling moody, they will definitely make your day! How about eating with your crush? Will you be a abit abnormal because you have to display your best look in front of him/her? Or maybe be in your usual self? Ha for me, I guess I will like to be in my usual self but of course with some basic table manners la because I guess this is the basic respect for both parties. I think the more careful you are in trying to display your best in front of people, the more blunder you make haha so that's why I will choose to be natural!! Oh yes, that's the word lol! Does the eating place makes a difference too? I guess somehow it does la cos if you are eating in dirty places where you can see rats and crokcoaches running around, I don't think you even dare to swallow anything that is in your mouth man... What about eating in a posh restaurant with so many kind of utensils in front of you? I feel that it will be too stressed to eat in such places, maybe once or twice in a year its ok la or maybe on some special occasions! :)

My 21st!

 
Was exploring the new software introduced by Mr Goh and decided to do a collage for my 21st Birthday last year!

DoNutS dONuts DONUTS

Haha pardon me but recently I got this BIG craving for DONUTS!!! Actually the craving has been going on since I came back from Taiwan. The donuts that I ate are super uber nice man!! I think this is a season of Donut craze hahaa lol!!! There are also a lot of donut stores entering into Singapore market recently and do you know that people queue for almost 2 hours to buy donuts from this store name "Donut Factory"?? I know this sounds crazy but I wouldn't mind queuing if it taste heavenly good :) Anyway here are some donut pictures, please don't drool!! Whahah!

Santa Claus is NEVER coming to town... haha!

Have you spent enough time reading God's word and worshipping him? How is your faith level, will you stumble when devil come in your way?? This is always a question that is in my mind most of the time... Whenever I have absolute no time with God, I will spend some moments reading the devotion taken from http://www.harvest.org in the office. Along came this particular devotion that spoke deeply into my heart....

No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus, but I am sorry to say there is a Satan.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about the character in a red suit with the horns and pitchfork. I'm talking about the real spirit-being the Bible calls the devil, or Satan. And if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, you need to know that he's going to set his sights on you.

Becoming a Christian—the best decision you ever made—doesn't mean you'll be walking on sunlit paths through California poppies for the rest of your life.

In fact, that decision launched a war that will follow you all of your days until Jesus takes you to His Father's house. "Conversion," someone wrote, "has made our hearts a battlefield."

Just as you came to realize there is a God who loves you, you also must come to understand that there is a devil who hates you.

Not only that, but the devil wants to pull you right back into sin—right back into the snares and traps and sorrows of the old life from which you just escaped. In one of the stories Jesus told, sometimes called "the parable of the sower," He spoke about what happens right after the living seed of God's Word is planted in someone's heart: "And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts" (Mark 4:15 NKJV).

If the evil one fails in that task, he will simply battle with you, contending each forward step you take for Jesus Christ. The devil's ultimate objective, as the Lord tells us in John 10:10, is to "to steal, and to kill, and to destroy" (NKJV). So until the day we finally walk through the doorway of heaven, spiritual warfare will rage on.

The believer may be known by his inward warfare as well as by his inward peace. This battle is not against flesh and blood. It is spiritual battle! With a very real devil. As Martin Luther wrote in the classic hymn:

For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe.
His craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate
On earth is not his equal.
We should never underestimate the devil. He is a sly and skillful adversary, with thousands of years of experience dealing with mankind. But even though he is a wily and powerful foe, he also has clear weaknesses and can be overcome.

If we want to effectively resist him, first we need to understand his "M.O."—his method of operation. The Bible says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7 NKJV).

But how do you do that?

First, you resist him by knowing his strategies and weaknesses, and there are many. Let me start by sharing with you a few things the devil does not want you to know.

1. Satan is not the equal of God.

It isn't even close!

God is omnipotent. He is unlimited in power and might. Satan is not. Yes, Satan has great power—more than any man and most angels—yet he is nowhere near being the equal of our God.

God is omniscient. He knows everything there is to know, down to the tiniest, atom-sized details. Satan does not. Our adversary is not omniscient. He has a powerful intellect, a long memory, and from experience knows many things—far more than people. But only God is all-knowing.

God is omnipresent. There is nowhere that He is not! He is everywhere at once all the time. Satan is limited. As an individual personality, he can only be in one place at one time. So when we say "the devil is hassling or tempting me," it's probably not true. It is his power working through a well-organized network of demonic forces.

But there is another thing the devil doesn't want you to know.

2. Satan is subject to God's permission.

The evil one can do nothing in the life of a believer without permission from God. The book of Job gives an account of the angels presenting themselves before God—an amazing, behind-the-scenes look at what happens in the spiritual realm.

One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan the Accuser came with them. "Where have you come from?" the LORD asked Satan. And Satan answered the LORD, "I have been going back and forth across the earth, watching everything that's going on." Then the LORD asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil." Satan replied to the LORD, "Yes, Job fears God, but not without good reason! You have always protected him and his home and his property from harm. You have made him prosperous in everything he does. Look how rich he is!" (Job 1:6–10 NLT)
Understand some important truth from this text. First, see that Satan—even after his fall—still has access to the throne of God. He lost his once high-ranking position, but he still has access. But see also that in spite of his power and wicked agenda, he has to ask permission when it comes to the child of God, because of this "hedge of protection" God has put in place.

3. The intercession of Jesus for you.

In one instance in the Gospel of John, it appears that Satan himself specifically asked for Simon Peter by name. Jesus said to Peter: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31–32, NASB).

Apparently, Peter was such a "big fish" that Satan himself went knocking. Thankfully, God knows our breaking point and won't give us more then we can handle. That's a promise!

So remember this. If you are a Christian, you better expect to see some real spiritual warfare in your life. But take heart. Satan is not the equal of God by any means, and he can't harass you without obtaining God's permission. Best of all, you have the Lord Jesus right there beside you, praying for you to fight the good fight of faith and overcome the evil one.

That seems to me to be more than enough of a reason to put your faith in Jesus Christ! So the next time the devil comes knocking at your door, you can say, "Lord, would you mind getting that?"

Is God speaking to you right now?? :)

Thus far has the Lord helped us... 1 Sam 7:12

The Day of his power at Singapore indoor stadium yesterday was AWESOME man!!! I felt so refreshed and more excited in doing God's work. Yesterday's theme verse was "Thus far has the Lord helped us..." It was taken from the book of Samuel, what it is trying to say is that through the years since Singapore was found, the Lord had been gracious to us. He had blessed Singapore so much that it becomes a prosperous Lion City! Look at Singapore now, look at the buildings and green environment, small as it seems but mighty it can be! Amen?? The prayer concert yesterday was really so amazing and everyone is just so high! I was emailing my colleagues in Dubai who are also christian yesterday that all the christians are going to gather and pray for our nation. They told me that we are very blessed to do that together because as you know Dubai is a Muslim country, christian cannot preach the gospel so freely or they will be caught and put to jail. They told me that they really missed this kind of event where they can pray and worship God together in the public place. Look, we are so so blessed to be placed in such country. We should do more for God ya?? Anyway it was really fun gathering in event like this with all the different denominations and people from different countries. We prayed for our nations, other countries and 3 generations from the 50s-60s, 30s-40s and the younger generation which includes me. All of us done a prophectic act whereby each one of us will hold on to the stone with the theme verse engraved with our right hand and a small booklet filled with verses placing near to our heart. After that, all of us said a prayer together representing each generation. That was the last part and it was like a grand finale and it ended with some worship and praise songs... The whole thing ended at ard 11 and you can see the smile on each one of us leaving the place feeling renewed and refreshed. Really want to praise the Lord!!! AMEN! Whoaaa hoo.... hahah

All the best Volkswagen INTERN

Today is the last day for the intern in our department. His name is Wei Xiong. I can describe him as a "gentle" guy, who behaves quite different from the friends that I know. I can say that his inner him is like a girl haha but I can guarantee you that he is 100% GUY!! Anyway, at the start I did have a struggle teaching him stuff because he tends to forget what I have taught him. I found a person that is more blur than me!!! lol!! He told me before that he don't really like working in that environment, being desk-bound therefore he dread of going to work everyday but guess what he went through these 6 months, applause for you man!! His role as a intern in our department is to do all his daily task which is quite a routine so this explains his agony and complaints. He will always follow whatever is written in the documentation so when certain situations occurred and if it is not the exact case as what is written in the documentation, he will say "I don't know how to do, it is not in the documentation..." Actually, the way of solving the problem is somehow similiar but I think he is just not flexible. This is the same as Maths some problem sum, the workings are the same but the scenario is not the same... Whenever he tells me this, I will like .... ok..... Hahah however, he did improve down the months, able to be take control of any situations and be pro-active! Another applause for him again!!! Seriously speaking, working with him is not that easy at the beginning maybe because I am too used to the working style of the previous intern, Jamie. She is really good and I can rely on her to do anything hahaa so I think this explains the expectation that I have for him. I just want to say sorry to him here for the times that I had treated him harshly. Time really flies, today is his last day and whenever an intern is leaving I will be a bit affected because whatever it is, I have spent the last 6 months with each one of them. I have built the friendship, the bond with each one of them. Natually I will feel sad because I will always remember the fun time we had during lunch/tea break. Haha, seriously I am already missing the times when we crap together but life still moves on... Haha..
Since today is his last day, I decided to release him some of the work so that he can feel more relax on his last day. When it is around 5:55pm, reality hits me because I know that next week the intern's sit will be empty haha ok I am not trying to be emotional here but this is just a sudden thought at that time. At this point of time, he came to my desk with his red eyes and with some tears rolling down his cheeks. I was like SHOCK!!! He is the first intern that cried on the last day!!! Seeing the tears rolling down, I was also affected and can you believe it, i cried with him!! He can even ask me "Why did you cry ah?" I was like, YOU made me cry la! I quickly called my colleague to save me from that situation. After that, both of us keep consoling him and keep telling him that he can always come back and visit us. He is quite funny lor, he apologise to us for being so emo that day... HAHAHA, I am so amazed man!! Just want to say all the best in your future endeavor....