Food for Thoughts

Something to Ponder

Went to gym yesterday. While working out on the stepper, I saw a movie trailer. Some of scenes had words that attracted my eyes:

Emotion - Logic = Faith
Work - Dream = Job

Something to ponder about?

Posted in: on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at at 3:57 PM 0 comments

Breaking Arrow

Attended Millionaire Mind Intensive Workshop, a 3 full days workshop, from 23 May to 25 May 2008. Held in The Mines Exhibition and Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur. There were 4800 participants.

We have many emotions over money, as well as over many things in our lives. On the 3rd day of the workshop, we teamed up in groups of 10. Each person get an arrow. At the tip of the arrow, we were instructed to write one thing that we want to break in our lives. Before the game started, we had to sign off an indemnity letter. Then, the game begin. One person will be the holder, one person will be a breaker. Both were given protective goggles. The end of arrow will be put at the palm of the holder, while the tip of the arrow will be put at the soft patch above the collar bone in the middle of the neck. Then, the breaker will push the upper body towards the holder to break the arrow which was in between the 2.

For me, before I did it, I had second thought..to quit. But, I decided to go ahead. As I pushed slowly towards the holder, I felt a bit painful. Then as I saw the arrow started to bend, I pushed on further and further, faster. And it broke steadily. I glad I did it inspite of fear.

Courage is not absence of fear, but it is to act inspite of fear. When we face the Goliath in our lives, lets be like David, face it not by our might or power, but by the spirit of God, and truly trust in who He says He is, the great I am. As we seek our breakthrough in our lives, lets be like Paul, pressing on towards the goal. Our God is Baal Perazzim. The breakthrough will come as we press on.

Posted in: on Monday, May 26, 2008 at at 9:37 PM 1 comments

Low Fuel Tank

2 weeks ago, I accompanied a friend to collect her new car from USJ industrial area. It was an honour to be her first passanger, yet I kept joking with her that I risk my life to accompany her. Haha.

After we collected her new car, the salesman gave us the direction to drive home and the nearest petrol station. As we drove out, hit on the highway, we missed the first petrol station on the left. Then, we passby second petrol station, we missed it again as we were driving on the centre lane and there were too many cars on the left that can allow us to do so. Thereafter, we were caught in a massive jam. The fuel tank light kept appearing. Finally, we were about 500m away from a petrol station, the car came to a stop. I was prepared to get down from the car and make a dash to the petrol station. My friend, quickly turned off the engine, prayed and turned it on again. The car get started. Praise God! We then quickly drove to the petrol station which was 500m away to fill up the tank.

Isn't it the same with our life? Busy with many things in our lives, like Martha. We find it difficult to be like Mary, to sit at the feet of Jesus, to learn from him and to spend time with him...to fill up our spiritual tank. But that is very important. To take us further in our journey, we can't run on a low fuel tank, but a filled tank.

Posted in: on at at 9:06 PM 0 comments

Purpose of Life

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,'which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72

1. In spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.

2. About midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

3. We set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

4. I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
God's Blessings on you today.



Posted in: on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at at 9:48 AM 0 comments

Another Farewell


It is always difficult to say goodbye. But, like chinese saying goes, there's no banquet that never ends. We wish the best for the those who are moving on. We cherish the moments that we had spent together. It's always the people that we are going to miss.
Well..stay in touch with each other is the key...

Posted in: on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at at 1:11 PM 0 comments

Peace

The photo was taken in Oslo, Norway in Year 2005. I like its serenity very much. It reminded me of my favourite Psalm23:


The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
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.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Posted in: on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at at 6:01 PM 0 comments

Whose Battle is it?

by Rick Warren

“But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!” 2 Chronicles 20:17 (NLT)
*** *** *** ***
In today’s passage, God is talking to King Jehoshaphat and the Israelites. They’re about to be attacked by three enemies: the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Meunites. Jehoshaphat had to be worried about how his people could defend themselves in such a battle, but God knew exactly what Jehoshaphat was thinking. He said, “You will not have to fight in this battle.” Now, that’s the kind of battle I like! What God tells Jehoshaphat in this passage, and what he would remind us today, is this: “The battle is not yours; it’s mine. You don’t have to fight in it.”
In other words, it’s God’s problem. Let him solve it.

The fact is if you are God’s child, then your problems are his problems. And he’s much better at fighting your battles and solving your problems than you will ever be. Your job is to trust him to work it all out. Perhaps the reason we have so many tired, fatigued, and discouraged Christians is because we think, “It all depends on me.”
The day you resign as General Manager of the Universe, you’re going to find that it doesn’t fall apart. You can relax in faith, trusting that God is able to run things without your help.

Twice in this passage it says, “Don’t be afraid,” and “Don’t be discouraged.” When you face a seemingly impossible situation, don’t be afraid and don’t be discouraged. Has God ever lost a battle? No. He doesn’t lose battles.

There’s an important phrase in verse 17. God tells Jehoshaphat, “Take your positions and stand firm.” What does it mean to stand firm? It means to have a mental attitude of quiet confidence. It is never God’s will for you to run from a difficult situation. I’ve discovered that when I run from a difficult situation, inevitably God always brings it back around and gives me another chance. It’s inevitable. Why?
Because God wants us to learn – and he wants to teach us through experience – that in every situation he is sufficient. He is competent and capable and he will meet our needs in that situation. Don’t be afraid; fear is the opposite of faith.

You stand firm on two things:
The character of God – He’s faithful. He does not bring us this far just to let us down. He doesn’t bring you out on a limb and then cut off the limb. Have faith in the nature andcharacter of God.
The truth of his Word – God’s Word is faithful. You can count on the promises found in the Bible.
Stand still. Remember Who the battle belongs to. Trust that he is able to deliver you. And then watch him do it!

Posted in: on at at 5:56 PM 0 comments

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