commitment to change

i think the past few days has been good. with new visions and resolutions set for 2010. my prayer is that for the whole of 2010, the Holy Spirit will keep reminding me of the visions and resolutions that i have set, and i will keep reminding myself too, and keep to them. having the motivation now to change, so must start taking action before the fire dies down. must keep at it to keep the fire burning. you out there who're reading this, i grant you the permission to keep reminding me of the resolutions that i have set for 2010. if i laze or stray away from it, hit me and remind me. by 31 Dec 2010, i want to..

1) be a man of initiative, and not only just talk
2) be full of joy, that i can influence people around me to feel the joy as well
3) finish reading at least 6 books (aside from reading the Bible)
4) pray at least 30 mins daily + read Bible and meditate on the verses 30 mins daily
5) sleep early (before 12am) and wake up early (before 8am), but depends on working hours

yup basically the above. 3, 4 and 5 are very clear. in goal settings, must be clear, and best measureable. so to elaborate on point 1, i shall pack up my room/house, as a measure of it. point 2.. i haven thought of any way to measure yet. haha..

what a day..

long time no blog. oh well, life's been.. quite the same? haha. today was quite happening. i have about 20+ ulcers in my mouth (ahh, i'm actually quite used to having ulcers already. not such a big deal anymore..). since this morning, my laptop crashed about 5 to 6 times, giving me the blue screen of death. just now when sending out sms, somehow my phone got cranky and sent 4 copies of the same sms to 10+ people. haha. weird day eh.

well, in a day when things keep going wrong, i decide to still do things right - by praising God! be thankful in all circumstances! though the laptop crashing makes me feel like taking a break from work, but i should still go back to work. hope my laptop is really ok.. *prays*

圣灵充满 Part II

was reading up on the topic, googled the Internet, and came upon an e-book, by 王国显牧师, at here . read a bit of it, seems not bad, but i haven't read everything, so i dunno if the content has anything that is out of the Bible, or strayed from the Bible. i don't know much about the pastor, so if you go read the e-book, don't just take everything as written. well, we shouldn't take everything as we hear it or read anyway, other than the Bible, in its correct translation. but from what i've read so far, the content hasn't strayed from the Bible and its intended meaning.

as i read, and did some research on my own, it seems that the 和合本 translation isn't very complete in translating some of the meanings. well, i already knew this, but just got to know that 圣灵充满 was used during translation to mean two things: filled with the Holy Spirit and full of the Holy Spirit. this is mentioned in the e-book too. translated accurately, they should be 圣灵充满 and 满有圣灵 respectively.

in the 和合本, there are several verses which has the phrase 圣灵充满, of which some meaning filled with the Holy Spirit (filled, Greek word is plēthō) (Luke 1:15, 1:67; Acts 2:4, 4:8, 4:31, 9:17, 13:9, 13:52, Ephesians 5:18), and some others meaning full of the Holy Spirit (full, Greek word is plērēs) (Luke 4:1, Acts 6:3, 7:55, 11:24).

in all of the above verses, when the individuals or group of people were filled with the Spirit or full of the Spirit, there were no mention of any manifestation such as shaking, falling down, etc. one verse (Acts 2:4) mentions that those filled with the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues, but to say that speaking in tongues means filled with the Holy Spirit, doesn't make much sense to me. like the author of the e-book says, the instances where individuals or group of people were filled with or full of the Holy Spirit, is to empower them to do things to glorify God. in the words of the author, "简单的说，圣灵充满就是圣灵在人的身上显出他的管理和供应，彰显基督的能力和美丽。"

what the author says, and from the little research into the verses (yes, it is only very simple research on the surface of things), it all supports my thinking that those so-called manifestations are not 圣灵充满. a previous thought of constantly being 圣灵充满, in the Bible, is actually being full of the Holy Spirit, which means to live a life fully led by the Holy Spirit. filled with the Holy Spirit is different in the sense that it is like.. empowerment by God in a particular situation, and after the situation, the state of being Spirit-filled no longer remains. can go read the e-book for a clearer explanation of the terms.

thus, in conclusion, 现象 such as 被圣灵击倒, shaking, etc, is not 圣灵充满. i do believe it is manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, but not the equivalent of being filled with the Holy Spirit. until research into the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, i am not sure what it does for the individuals who have such experiences, other than to edify them and to boost their faith. oh yeah, sometimes there are healings and stuff too. hmm.. to think of this, like how Peter and Paul, and also Jesus, proclaimed healing to the sick and to exorcise evil spirits, was there any mention of the Holy Spirit? Holy Spirit came to guide us, comfort us, etc. was there any verse that said Holy Spirit came to heal the sick and exorcise the evil spirits? from what i remember, is no. healing and exorcism is by the power of God and His authority right? not exactly the work of the Holy Spirit. woah, more and more questions to think about. haha.

圣灵充满

hmm, the last Sunday, for MTS and Service, talked about 圣灵充满. i kept thinking about something, a lot. haha. what exactly does it mean to be 圣灵充满? the so-called manifestations, what are they a manifestation of? what 东威哥 said really set me thinking. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, but did He ever have such manifestations? Bible didn't say. well, if Bible didn't say, probably cos it's not recorded, but if it's not recorded, probably means, it never happened, or that it wasn't important at all to be recorded. and to note, it seems that neither of the apostles had such manifestations too.

it seems all too associated that now, people normally say that when someone has the manifestations, he is filled with the Holy Spirit. as i thought about it more and more, and as 东威哥 preached, it seemed to me that it is more and more not the case. ways to be 圣灵充满 never mentioned having others pray for you to be filled with the Holy Spirit. the ways are to worship, pray and read the Bible. how to know if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, none of the ways mentioned if you show any manifestations.

圣灵充满 should be followed with a positive change in the person right? so if someone who shows such manifestation, but afterward did not have any change, what does it mean? what did the manifestation do for the person? early in 东威哥's sermon, he asked if someone who 倒下去, is he 圣灵充满. many said yes and nobody said no. is it really like that? i'm starting to doubt. if so, why so many people 倒下去, but like so few have a change in their lives?

maybe now too early for me to make any conclusions. i want to do some research on this, and hopefully, with what i've learnt, can help correct any wrong mindsets we have on 圣灵充满. wow, i was so excited to do research and ponder over this question on Sunday. haha. i felt so much propelled to seek the Truth. must really get to it and not just think about it and say only. haha. must 突破!

test your hearing

aye aye everyone! long time no blog eh. well, i've not been exactly good recently. some loss of hearing and the tinnitus in my left ear, and the terrible mouth ulcers i have at the back of my mouth.. man, it's bad. the ulcers are super bad. 3 of them, at the back of my mouth. those who've had experience of having one near the throat there will know how painful it is. when you drink, eat, even swallowing your own saliva, is very painful. and i got 3 of them!! pain until i cannot sleep properly. -_-

anyways, some of you may know by now, i've now got some hearing loss in my left ear. went to see specialist already. well, it probably will just be lost and not come back. and the tinnitus. oh, tinnitus is the high pitch ringing in the ear. only i can hear it. it's always there, can get pretty irritating. doc say i just have to learn to live with it, ignore it. oh well. what to do. it's due to live range shooting during my reservice. put in the earplugs already, but it didn't do me much help. hoping can claim compensation from SAF for the injury.

just now was feeling a little bored, so googled for hearing test. got one on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G60hM1W_mk), you can go try. but from the comments by other people, maybe the high frequencies >13kHz not working well due to the limitations of quality of the sound. well, at least i found out that my right ear can hear up to 12kHz, but my left ear, totally lost it at 8kHz. did find another site which offers more professional hearing test (http://www.digital-recordings.com/). tried it too. results... my left ear really cannot make it. haha. quite a bit of hearing loss compared to my right ear starting from 3kHz. lol. have fun trying out to see how much you can hear. anyway, supposedly, humans can hear from 20Hz to 20kHz.

You Brought Me Home

Hail to the King
Hillsong London



Your name oh Lord endures forever
Your fame oh Lord for all time
Your presence Lord Will leave me never
Your love oh Lord is all mine

To Him by wisdom made the heavens
And His mercy ever lasting
To the One who gives salvation
I lift up my soul to You

Jesus, Savior, holy Lord
I know that You’ll never forsake me or leave me alone
My Redeemer, Jesus Christ
You sacrificed Yourself on the cross to bring me home
You brought me home

---

Since is my birthday, share a song with you all. I like it a lot. Enjoy! God bless! :D

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to the June babies out there! Happy Birthday to Eunice, Chee Koon (wa, never contact in donkey years, but i still remember your birthday is on 11th June hor. doubt you'll see this anyway), Hanwei, Jiahui (the Chui family one), Yien, Michelle, Zhihao, Paul, Shuiting.. and of course.. MYSELF!! wahaha.. tomorrow is my birthday. belated birthday presents are accepted. heh. if you don't know what to get for me, very simple. give angbao lo. with cash inside hor. Singapore dollars only. bank transfers are also accepted. SMS me to ask for my bank account details. Alternatively, a 4-room flat in Pasir Ris can do as well (this is preferred. maybe someone can pool money together. each person if contribute $20, find about 15,000 people can le. wow, i don't even know that many people.. :P). another good present will be your prayers and blessings in the name of the Lord. ;D

anyway, next week got reservice for a week. cannot defer. oh well. go back meet old army friends. ok ok, gotta get back to work liao. busy busy busy..

Love and Marriage

Love is a complicated thing. We think in terms of feelings. Hormones get the best of us. When the feelings, flee love vanishes. We respond by saying, “I don’t love her any more.” Love is a lot more than palpitating hearts and flushed faces. The Bible defines love in terms of God. “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8).

A further definition is helpful. “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments” (2 John 1:6). God’s commandments are ten. They circumscribe the loving righteous life. Jesus Christ is the supreme demonstration. He kept the whole law perfectly. We come full circle. “The whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:14).

Love respects parents. Love preserves life and wards off death. Love shuns affairs and is chaste. Love respects the property of others. Love values truth. Love is not greedy or lustful or jealous. This is concrete, objective, and measurable.

Young people with regular unmarried bed partners speak of making love. They fall far short of God. “Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21). By the grace of God, couples working on marriage in terms of truthfulness, respect, and fidelity live much closer to God’s standard.

A Marriage in Christ

"There is nothing more lovely in life than the union of two people whose love for one another has grown through the years from a small acorn of passion to a great rooted tree. Surviving all vicissitudes, and rich with its manifold branches, every leaf holding its own significance." --Vita Sackville-West

In the Bible, we are told of the ultimate relationship between husband and wife; it is God's desire for husband and wife to no longer be two beings on separate paths, but be united as one flesh. ("For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." - Ephesians 5:31)

The word 'united' in this verse refers to being joined, as one, connected. The reason for this bonded state is quite simple and is explained in the following verse: "He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church - for we are members of his body." - Ephesians 5:28-29

We are also told husbands should love their wives in such a way that the female is built up and blessed by her husband's presence.

Think, for a moment, of the type of marital relationship that would result in a wife (bride) actually being edified by her husband (groom). Logically, there would have to be complete trust, mutual respect, kindness, caring, and obviously, a genuine love. A wife, who regards her spouse in this manner, has no problem placing her very life in the arms of her husband, for he will love his bride as he loves his own body.

While it is true these verses in Ephesians discuss the unique union of husband and wife, they, at the same time, are used to describe our relationship with Jesus Christ, who is often referred to in the Bible, as the "groom," with the body of Believer's or Church called the "bride."

How great a love Christ has for us! A love so strong that nothing can separate us from him. Just as husband and wife are joined as one, those who place their trust, their very life, in Christ's hands are members of his body. As Christ's bride, (those who believe in him) place the Groom (Jesus Christ, the Son of God) at the head of the Church, we, too, must place Christ at the forefront of our lives.

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." - Hebrews 13:5

Choices

A woman dies and is met at the gate of Heaven. She is given a choice of Heaven or Hell. Unable to decide, she is given the chance to sample both. She is also told that once she makes a choice, it cannot be changed..

First, she goes to hell. There she is met by friends and given a lobster dinner, dancing and partying all night long. She has a wonderful time there and is glad to be in good company.

A couple of days later she goes up to Heaven. There are harps playing, singing and a celebration there also but she decides she would rather be with her familiar friends instead of God and Jesus. So she is sent back down to hell.

When she arrives back in hell, all she finds is desert wasteland . Her friends are no longer partying and having a good time, they're picking up the trash of the wasteland. She asks them, "What happened? This is so much different from before."

"Simple," they reply, " the last time you were here, we were just recruiting you."

Application:

Like the woman in this story, we all get a choice, except that ours must be made on earth. We can choose to follow the crowd of people that do things they know are wrong, but seem so much fun, then go to a place where we are deprived of joy. Or we can follow Jesus with his love for us, and go to a place where love abounds. Jesus or Satan? Heaven or Hell? The choice is yours to make now while you are here on earth, for there is no choice once you leave it.

http://thewedding.sg/

hi all readers! this is my 300th post! haha.. to commemorate my 300th post, i shall share a very good site with all of you! *my ex-classmates and schoolmates, think this site is good for you. cos i guess some of you probably will be getting married soon. lol.

check out thewedding.sg!! It's a new website by three of my friends in church, two of whom is very close to me de. heh. so do give your support ya? :)

God bless you!

i like this

wow hey check this out man. check out the fingers. haha.

off to overseas again..

flying off again tomorrow. going KL, malaysia. short trip this time. 3 days. hope i'll be ok. i'm feeling more and more sick. having a bad flu, and coughing too. my throat feels dry. i'm feeling very heaty. ughh.. hope i don't fall more sick. keep me in prayers man. i should go and sleep soon, hopefully will get better. man.. and the ulcers in my mouth are irritating.. =(

boardgames day.. success??

ok bit slow to update. anyway, boardgames day is more or less a success? at least, i felt that most, if not, all the participants had fun and enjoyed themselves. thanks to help from NTU fastforward alumni and member (only one of them still student at NTU), and sponsorship of games from Pitstop Cafe, and also some of the games by Kelvin and Zhuguo ge. Think they enjoyed the finger food also. haha.. very thankful to Uncle Ruixiang's wife (i forgot her name. sorry)!! she helped us cook most of the food!! and she like spend a few hours there cooking lo, by herself. so thankful for her help!! and of course, lots of thanks to Kelvin who introduced many nice games, and hosted some of us at his house to try out the games. not forgetting someone who always came to try out the games even though the someone don't really like playing de, if not we always like too little people. thanks!!! heee.. very happy that the boardgames day went well ba. so happy to see them having fun and enjoying themselves. Praise God! it's definitely the work of God that things went well, from sponsorship of games to external assistance. Thank You Father!

just now went to mind cafe with my bro, weicong, ziting and dylan. played ticket to ride twice, once was the europe version de, and i won both times! hahaha.. lucky i got similar destination tickets. lol. anyway had fun just now. the last game we played was ugly doll or something like that. wah, ziting is good. she always win. lol. UGLYYYY!! UGLYYYY!! =X