Finally

By -
Finally, after a night of frustration and hanging and cursing (this part is a joke), I'm finally able to log into this stupid blogger server to write something. It's one thing having writer's block, but it's another when you have the inspiration and the server just refuse to budge and let you in to write to your heart's content.

I was actually reading Joshua the other day when I came across this particular verse:

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
- Joshua 1:9


What striked me even more is that in just the first chapter of Joshua, the reader was told by God to be strong and courageous for more than 3 times. It was quite a strong reminder, especially when the new semester is coming and when we will be out in the field reaping the harvest for God. I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence when I found this verse when I was having PnF yesterday:

This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's.
- 2 Chronicles 20:15b


Then I suddenly remembered and searched for this verse:

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still
- Exodus 14:14


And I decided to search for similar verses in the bible and found:

Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes!
- 1 Samuel 12:16


Be still, and know that I am God
- Psalm 46:10a


I was like... whoaz... I felt as if whoaz... esp when I read Psalm 46:10 at the end. It felt as if God was leading from a simple verse to a climax. And yeah... be still and know that He is God, the almighty God. Upon reflecting the message, I think what God is trying to tell me is that He will fight for me, I need only to be still; for the battle is not mine but His. How true the revelation...Given the illness that had taken me down for the past few days, the incoming semester which may be the most stressful of the three I have experienced, not to mention that it's a time of harvest, I think in times of overwhelming responsibilities, we will need to be still and let God do His work in us. Whoaz... it was quite a refreshing moment even as I think of it now...

In any case, recently there was a new blog started up by our very dear Pastor Jeff. Here's the address: http://jeffchong.blogspot.com. Quite amazing to see people around starting their own blogs. But recently, it seems that there hasn't been much update as such (and I'm one of the guilty ones). Among the lists I have, only a few are worthy of me clicking in because of the frequent updates. There are some which have been gathering dust for ages...

I think I'll stop here for today. Need to rest... and be still.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Parable of the 'Good Samaritan'

By -
Once there was this man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among thorns, and the thorns spring up and choked him. And as he went on, he didn’t have money, and he met the Queen of Sheba, and she gave him 1,000 talents of gold and 100 changes of raiment. And he got into a chariot and drove furiously, and when he was driving under a big juniper tree, his hair caught on a limb of that tree, and he hung there many days, and the ravens brought him food to eat and water to drink, and he ate 5,000 loaves of bread and two fishes. One night when he was hanging there asleep, his wife Delilah came along and cut off his hair, and he dropped, and fell on stony ground. But he got up and went on, and it began to rain, and it rained forty days and forty nights, and he hid himself in a cave, and he lived on locust and wild honey. Then he went on ‘til he met a servant who said, “Come, take supper at my house.” And he made an excuse and said, “No, I won’t. I have married a wife, and I c...
Read more

Of Teaching and Learning

By -
Image
Over the past two weeks, I was invited to attend a block class on "Learning to Teach." After two weeks of class, here are some reflections that I have. We thank God Bro Casey is a pretty humane teacher... :P  Firstly, teaching needs to meet the changing challenges of the 21st century. This is especially pertinent with all the advancements in technology as well as the worldview changes with the generation today. There is simply no room for the teacher to remain stagnant and not be able to keep up with times so as to engage their students and to facilitate learning. Applying to theological education and Bible school, we have to consider what kind of ministers we are training for the churches in the 21st century. If we are training ministers who are able to engage today’s generation, then we need to review the current methods of teaching and train ministers to be savvy in social media and technology and be able to make use of them in their ministries. Reflecting back on...
Read more

Of Exegesis, Wedding Preparation and the Whole Lot of Things: Another Reflection

By -
Image
To those who know what happened, the past months since the start of 2016 had been very stressful to me. In the preparation to my impending wedding this coming October, my future father-in-law decided to throw a few spanners into the wedding preparation by declaring that he was not comfortable with me as a life partner to his daughter because I am a full time Christian worker and more importantly because I come from a different family background from her.  The latter means that there are certain practices in my own family which are unthinkable in his worldview on how a family should function. This led to intense tensions between Angelina and myself. To compound the stress, NT Exegesis class was not that easy also and the stress of meeting the deadlines mean that I sometimes did not have the time to reflect deeper into the situations I was facing in my relationship.  However, studying the text of Philemon 15-20 reminded me of the way we should conduct our relationship ...
Read more