Tuesday, July 29
super suay!
Monday, July 28
there is no one like you..
There is no one like You
You are more beautiful Than anyone ever Everyday You're the same You never change, no never
And how could I ever deny The love of my Savior You are to me everything All I need forever
How could You be so good?
There is no one like You There has never ever been anyone like You
Everywhere You are there Earth or air surrounding I'm not alone, the heavens sing along My God You're so astounding How could You be so good to me Eternally I believe that'
You, You, You, You, You, You
How could You be so good to me? How could You be so good to me? We're not alone, so sing along We're not alone, so sing along, sing along, sing along
No one can be so good to me except you... you alone, make my day.. it may not be easy, but i want the inward joy and not happiness.. you alone, help me through all circumstances..
In Christ Alone - Michael English
In Christ alone will I glory
Though I could pride myself in battles won
For I've been blessed beyond measure
And by His strength alone I overcome
Oh, I could stop and count successes
Like diamonds in my hand
But those trophies could not equal
To the grace by which I stand
In Christ alone I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory let it be said of me
My source of strength, my source of hope
Is Christ alone
In Christ alone will I glory
For only by His grace I am redeemed
Only His tender mercy
Could reach beyond my weakness to my need
Now I seek no greater honor
Than just to know Him more
And to count my things but losses
To the glory of the Lord
My source of strength, my source of hope
Is Christ aloneSunday, July 27
Saturday, July 26
Today's service...
Friday, July 25
What is love?
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Be Numbered Among The Undevourable
1 Peter 5:8 8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
The devil cannot just walk right up to you and rob you of your health, peace or family. He cannot just come into your life to enforce disease and destruction.If the devil can do that, then he does not have to walk about “seeking whom he may devour”. He only has to walk straight up to the person he wants to devour and devour him! But since the Bible says that he goes about seeking whom he may devour, the truth then is that there are people whom the devil cannot devour.
You see, the devil goes about like a roaring lion trying to stir fear in people with his roars. But the people who are not devourable are those who refuse to be intimidated by his roars because they know that the true Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ (Revelation 5:5), has already come and destroyed him who had the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14, NASB) They know that the devil cannot do anything to them because the Lion of Judah resides in them, and that He is greater than the devil who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
My friend, the Lion of Judah is in you. He has given you rights, privileges, authority and power. He has redeemed you with His blood. Therefore, everything about you and your life is redeemed by His blood. If you are fearful about losing your job, cover your job with the blood of Jesus. If you are worried about your children’s safety in these days of terrorist attacks, plead the blood of Jesus over them. If you have received a bad report from the doctor, speak the blood over yourself.
Whatever you have covered with the blood of Jesus, God declares, “Protected! Redeemed!” And the devil flees when he sees the blood. And when he flees, he takes with him sicknesses, diseases, pains, sufferings, destruction and loss. Once the devil knows that you know who you are in Christ and what you have in Him, his days of intimidating you are over, and you are numbered among the undevourable!
God Wants Your Household Saved
Acts 16:31 31So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
When God got you saved, He didn’t just have you in mind — He had your whole family in mind! That is why His Word says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Now, this does not mean that once you believe on Jesus, your family members are automatically saved. What it means is that you have opened a big door for God to move into your family’s life and to touch every member of your family.So don’t worry about your unsaved dialect-speaking grandparents. God knows how to reach out to them. I have a relative who speaks only Cantonese, and could not go to church because she was very old and her legs were weak. But Jesus appeared to her in a vision and spoke to her in perfect Cantonese! She never encountered Jesus, but knew it was Him and understood what He said to her. After that encounter, those who have visited her have been amazed by her knowledge of Jesus.
Even up to the very last moment, God will reach out to your unsaved family members. This happened to my late maternal grandfather who used to make fun of me being a Christian. On his deathbed, he was gasping for air and was in great discomfort. He couldn’t die peacefully. My mother, who was with him, told him, “Dad, just say, ‘Jesus, forgive me.’ Call on Jesus.” My grandfather remained hardened and in great pain. But at the very last moment, he cried out, “Jesus, forgive me!”
You see, my grandfather had no time to pray the sinner’s prayer. But God says that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”. (Acts 2:21) Jesus will find every excuse to save a person. My mother saw the peace of God come upon my grandfather's face after he had called out to Jesus, and he passed away peacefully.
God’s desire is for your entire household to be saved. Right now, your family may be giving you a hard time, but because you are a Christian, a big door has been opened for your Daddy God in heaven to touch them!
The Sure Symbol Of God’s Love
Romans 5:8 8But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Imagine this scenario: Your car tyre blows and you are late for work. At the office, you find out that someone else got the promotion you had been hoping for. Then, you receive a call from home informing you that your kitchen pipes are leaking again. Before long, you hear a voice telling you, “If God loves you so much, how come all these things are happening to you?”Perhaps you are asking the same question today and wondering if God really loves you. Well, I want you to know that you must never judge God’s love for you based on your circumstances. No, look at the cross instead! The cross is the sure symbol of God’s love for you. It is at the cross that “God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.
A teenager learnt that the cross indeed spoke of how much God loves her. At one point in her life, she was contemplating suicide as the only way out of her loveless, messed-up life. She had intended to take some pills with a lethal dose of alcohol. She was all ready to die when she started clicking aimlessly on some MP3 songs on the Internet. And of all the songs that were on her screen, she picked a beautiful song written by one of our church musicians.
The lyrics of the song, sung by one of our church vocalists, spoke of being held by God’s love and being treasured in His sight. They touched this teenager. Sensing that an awesome God with His amazing love was reaching out to her, she abandoned her plan to kill herself. Not long after that, she found our church and met the person who had sung the song. She eventually came to know how much God loves her and how He has demonstrated His love for her through the cross.
Beloved, when you look at your life and find yourself wondering if God really loves you, look at the cross and see God’s outstretched arms. It will remind you of how much He loves you!
All For Love
TO YOU Darlene Zschech HERE I STAND FOREVER IN YOUR MIGHTY HANDS LIVING WITH YOUR PROMISE WRITTEN ON MY HEART I AM YOURS SURRENDERED WHOLLY TO YOU YOU SET ME IN YOUR FAMILY CALLING ME YOUR OWN
CHORUS: NOW I, I BELONG TO YOU ALL I NEED YOUR SPIRIT YOUR WORD YOUR TRUTH HEAR MY CRY MY DEEP DESIRE TO KNOW YOU MORE IN YOUR NAME I WILL LIFT MY HANDS TO THE KING THIS ANTHEM OF PRAISE I BRING HEAVEN KNOWS I LONG TO LOVE YOU WITH ALL I AM
(CHORUS)
I BELONG TO YOU man, i love this song.. i really thank God for protecting me all the time, especially in times where i fell.. that's the advantage of knowing God.. haha.. He will protect you wherever you go, 24/7.. i want to live my life fulfilling His commands, living with His promise, claiming His promise for us.. and also, i really want to surrender fully to Him, telling Him "i am yours".. to begin with, i am His.. and i will never leave Him.. cuz i love Him and He loves me too.. He even died for me la.. that's the greatest love no one can ever ever find except through Jesus Christ.. God also place me in this spiritual family, where everyone is just so genuine, so loving.. helping each other to grow right with God, and even grow closer to God.. Everyone is just so supportive, so caring, so sweet... =) God is not the bossy kind, He humbled himself to died for us.. furthermore, He called us His child.. See the closeness in that relationship? Yea.. Thank God.. the whole of the chorus actually represented my heart's cry for God.. i belong to Him, and i wanna live my life in such a way that all i need is His spirit, His word and His truth.. No other things shall i desire except Him.. I really wanna know Him more for i cannot understand His mind fully, my mind is limited + i am slow.. -.- i also wanna bring glory to His name always.. i will try hard no matter what.. God also knows our heart, He knows what we are thinking.. God definitely knows i wanna love Him with all i am... No one is perfect, not everyone can love everyone, except God.. That is why, i can feel so right with God, so comfortable in His mighty hands.. i feel protected, feel cared, feel loved, feel peace, feel just so good with Him.. the feeling of having Him with you is just so so so different compared to not having Him around you... We may not feel Him, not because he left us, but it's because we chose to leave Him, even for just that short period of time.. He promised us that never will he leave us or forsake us.. this is from calista's blog again(haha... no need copyright la hoh..): okie, church today was totally awesome!! im just so amazed by the sermon! live life must be ZAI!~ go toilet in e middle of service oso must be zai! hahahaha!! Anw, ya, the point is dat the way we carry ourselves is very important. and that we should be zai! be classy! speak classy, walk classy, behave classy! why? because our daddy God is a King! and that makes us princes and princesses! have u seen royalty speaking vulgarities? speaking broken english? walk as though they have a broken back bone? or even living life as though they are despised by the whole world? no!! and dat's precisely why we ought to have high self-esteem, high self-worth!Tuesday, July 22
Can Christians be demon possessed? How can Satan influence believers?
Why Christians cannot be possessed
When a Christian receives Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit enters that Christian's body, soul and spirit. God has claimed that person for His own and as a result, demons cannot occupy the same place as the Holy Spirit. Satan knows this, and that is why he tries so hard to get to people first and have his demons or demonic influence control or affect that person.
The reality of spiritual battle
Even though the Holy Spirit has entered the “new Christian,” demons can certainly try to plant thoughts or to affect the thinking process of an individual.
I remember a story that a famous evangelist told about a day he was in his office, and he was in his quiet time reading and studying. From out of nowhere, he noticed vile, lewd sexual thoughts coming into his mind. He was absolutely taken by surprise by this, but knew just what to do. He went into the office next door, which was his associate's office, and asked him to pray with him to banish these “darts” from Satan. With the prayer offered, the darts ceased at that time, and his mind was able to get back to the studying and reading he needed to be doing.
Now, I do not think that Satan is behind every bad thing that happens to people, or that every bad thought comes from the devil. But I do believe the Devil and all his demons are looking for people that they can affect with their “darts” and look for the weakness in that person and send their “darts” precisely at that point. Many times he is successful. We see over and over again and again, “good” people failing sexually and becoming involved in immoral situations. Even some of our friends, relatives or acquaintances have been affected. Some tell about it to others and in doing so are asking for help in the situation. Others do not tell and let themselves get further and further into trouble. Before they know it, they have committed sin, and they have their lives in shambles.
Look at Peter, and what he did, and how he was affected. Peter was a saved person. He was a “rock” for Christ, but he still denied Christ three times. Why? Well, it certainly wasn't reasonable to think Peter went from being such a “rock,” to being a wimp for Christ, in such a short time. He had to have been affected by some sort of demonic suggestion or demonic involvement.
In the case of Ananias and his wife selling their property and lying about how much they got and how much they gave, Peter himself asked them why they had allowed Satan to fill their hearts to lie to the Holy Spirit. They were Christian believers, but they lied and were swayed from the truth and the good of what they were doing. That is Satanic influence.
Many of you, I am sure, have had thoughts come into your mind, and you cannot figure out where they came from. Where does temptation come from? Well, you know it comes from the Devil, so it also shows that we have to be on constant guard and have our “shields up” at all times.
As one author puts it, “Demons cannot live in Christian hearts, but they perch on Christian shoulders and whisper in Christian ears.”
As we realize, the demons and Satan himself can be literally “perching on your shoulder,” we also must realize we cannot just go through each day doing the same old thing and not growing in the Lord and realizing his power. We need to constantly build our “arsenal” of defense, by studying His Word, memorizing His Word and giving the Holy Spirit within us the weapons to help fight our fight against this formidable enemy.
Christians, unfortunately, think just because they have turned their lives over to the Lord and had the Holy Spirit come into their lives, that they are safe. Satan loves to hear this. He has a good chance of wrecking that Christian's life, because he is so powerful.
Christians are not building their arsenal. Christians are not “in training” to ensure they are ready to do battle with demons or the devil himself. Christians today seem to do just enough to stay “status quo.” The reading and praying that the majority of Christians do is just enough to keep their knowledge and battle expertise at the same level as the day they gave their lives to the Lord.
| I have heard this question asked many times in my lifetime. While the answer is quite straightforward, “NO!”—a Christian cannot be demon possessed—there are other things that by demonic intervention can affect a Christian. Let's look a little deeper into this situation. National research supports this statement. Our Christian community at large watches more television every day than reading or praying. Our young people, generally speaking, are the same—little Bible time or prayer throughout the week, but they have all their socials, extracurricular activities and the like. They are not growing in the Lord and strengthening themselves for the battles ahead. We must realize that Satan has a plan for our lives, just as God has a plan. Both are going to fight for each and every one of us. God is the stronger of the two, we know that, but He also tells us what we need to do, and how to do it, and what will happen if we do what He tells us to do. However, if Satan can interfere with that advice and get the person off track and keep them off track, he will probably win the battle. Put on the full armor of GodMost of us know what the plan of defense is. We have a full set of armor ready and available for each and every one of us. God says with this armor we are to face the enemy and stand. God has fashioned a plan of defense.
Sounds simple doesn't it? If so simple, then why are the majority of Christians not outfitting themselves with God's armor? Well, I believe this again is part of the Devil's plan. If he can keep our lives so jumbled, so busy, so busy, so confusing, then we will “not have time” to get the armor or be able to put it on. The outcome? Sin! We are doomed to come under the full attack of the devil and his demons. The reality of what you cannot seeIt is interesting to see some of today's society believe in things they cannot see, smell, taste or feel. Today we are told of the different rays from the sun that can go into our eyes and damage the nerves and lose some of our eyesight. Yet, we respond to a scientist, who tells the general public this is what they have found and to do what they are told and buy certain sunglasses to protect their eyes and wear sun screen to protect against the “cancer inducing rays.” Yet, mention to some Christians that there are demons running around trying to affect them in some way, and they will look at you as if you have a third eye or the like. Christians must realize they are in mortal danger without the armor of God. Satan's time is running short and he knows it. He will be “pulling out all stops” in an effort to get back some of the most dedicated Christians we have. He will be working overtime to derail new Christians; another group that if you tell them about demons is not spiritually mature enough to understand what you are talking about. Jesus knew about demons and about Satan. He conversed with demons in casting them out and even conversed with Satan when He was tempted by him. Jesus knew the power of Satan and his demons. Powerful beingsEven though the disciples were given power to cast out demons, there was the one time they could not cast the demon out. This occasion supports the fact that demons are very powerful entities. This particular demon, Jesus said, had to have a different type of approach to get him to leave the person. We just don't give enough credence to the fact that Satan and his demonic army are very powerful adversaries and must be recognized and dealt with on that basis. When the world saw Saddam Hussein do what he did in Kuwait, and the world said enough is enough. and we must do something against him, nobody underestimated him. General Schwartzkoff certainly did not underestimate him. There were huge forces of troops and equipment sent in. Many countries' forces were amassed to ensure there would be enough power to do what was necessary. In the same light, each and every Christian needs to realize the power of the devil and his demons. They ARE there. They ARE here. They DO put thoughts into your mind, your brain, into your thought processes. Yet, if we know this and take the appropriate action, we can be the winners. If you could only have seen and talked with the people that I have, who have been controlled by demonic forces, you could see the first-hand proof of demons and their work. Some of the tragedies of today, with mothers or fathers killing their babies, or fathers sexually abusing their children, or other horrors, are being blamed on a newly discovered type of “syndrome.” Well, I am going to tell you point blank, there may be some syndromes floating around that lawyers or juries can blame these horrifying tragedies on, however, I believe there is only one person behind all of these things and he is the Devil himself and his accomplices. So, while I gave you an absolute “NO!” to answer the question, “Can Christians Be Demon Possessed?” I hope I have shown you how Christians can be affected in every aspect of their life by demon-induced thoughts or suggestions. I also warn you not to get paranoid and think every thought you think is being affected by a demon. But do be aware that where you do not have the spiritual armor on, there is the possibility that you could have thoughts being planted by “spiritual darts” from the enemy. The answer to all of this is fairly simple. Jesus gave us His way of dealing with things, and what we should and should not do. If we approach things with the attitude of learning how Jesus would react to your situation or what He would do in this situation, you are on safe ground. Like I mentioned before, put on the armor and pray, pray, pray, and then pray some more. Invest your time in prayer; it pays dividends that are out of this world!!! |
5. Warfare—Praise The Lord and Pass the Ammunition
When you became a Christian, you stepped right into the heat of an age-old battle. You have a three-fold enemy—the world, the flesh, and the devil. Before you became a Christian, you floated down stream with the other dead fish. But now, God has put His life within you, and you will find yourself swimming against a three-fold current. Let's look at these three resistant enemies. First, the world. When the Bible speaks of the "world" in this context, it is referring to the sinful, rebellious, world system. This is the world that loves the darkness and hates the light (John 3:20), governed by the "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4)—the "prince power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). The Bible says the Christian has escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. "Lust" is unlawful desire, and is the life's blood of the world—whether it be the lust for sexual sin, for power, for money, for material things. Lust is a monster that will never be gratified, so don't feed it. It will grow bigger and bigger, until it weighs heavy upon your back, and will be the death of you—see James 1:15.
There is nothing wrong with sex, power, money, or material things, but when these become predominant in God's sight, the Bible calls this "inordinate affection" (Colossians 3:5). We are told, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him… whoever is a friend of the world is an enemy of God" (1 John 2:15, James 4:4).
The second enemy is the devil. As we have seen, he is known as the "god of this world." He was your spiritual father before you joined the family of God (John 8:44, Ephesians 2:2. Jesus called the devil a thief, who came to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10).
The way to overcome him and his demons is to make sure you are outfitted with the spiritual armor of God listed in Ephesians 6:10-20. Become intimately familiar with it. Sleep in it. Never take it off. Bind the two-edged sword to your hand so that you never lose its grip. The reason for this brings us to the third enemy.
The third enemy is what the Bible calls the "flesh." This is your sinful nature. The domain for the battle, is your mind. If you have a mind to, you will be attracted to the world and all its sin. The mind is the data-processing control panel for the eyes and the ears. It is the center of your appetites. All sin begins in the "heart" (Proverbs 4:23, Matthew 15:19). We think before we sin. This happens because we don't think before we sin. The Bible warns that lust brings forth sin, and sin when it's conceived brings forth death. Every day we have life, we have a choice. To sin or not to sin—that is the question. The answer to the question of sin, is the fear of God. If you don't fear God, you will sin to your sinful heart's delight.
Did you know that God kills people? He killed a man because he didn't like what he did sexually (Genesis 38:10). He killed a husband and wife because they told just one lie (Acts 5:1-11). Knowledge of God's goodness—His righteous judgments against evil, should put the fear of God in us, and help us not to indulge in sin.
If we know that the eye of the Lord is in every place beholding the evil and the good, and that He will bring every work to judgment, we will live accordingly. Such weighty thoughts are valuable, for "by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6). Jesus said, "And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him, who after He has killed, has power to cast into Hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:4-5).
