Some good stuff I found on Isa 40 (Click the link for more!)

Isaiah 40:31: “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.”

How often we’ve quoted and sung this verse, but I wonder, do we really soar on wings like eagles? And what does that mean, after all?

Did you know that 32 times in scripture the eagle is used as an example of the Christian life?

That’s because eagles are unusual birds who are born to soar higher and faster than any other bird. And as God’s eagles, we are made to soar in heavenly realms.

Eagles always build their nests in the highest possible place for three reasons:
As protection from their enemies
As a perch for surveying the territory
As an energy-saving launching pad.

The Word of God is to us like the nest is to the eagle. It is our protection—our shield—from the enemy of our soul. The written Word gives you a strategic view of the world around you, shows you where to fly and where not to fly; warns you of dangers out in that big world. When your launching pad is God’s eternal Word, you’re really able to soar like an eagle.

Maybe you’ve been trying to soar from the ground up. Been flapping your wings a lot lately but going nowhere? You need a better launching pad. Isaiah begins this 40th chapter by reminding us that the Word of our God stands forever.

Jesus is the Word of God incarnate—the Word made flesh that dwelled among us. He stands forever; His love for us will last forever; nothing can separate us from His love; He will never leave us or forsake us. If you’re not soaring on wings of eagles these days, check it out. The launching pad is the Word of God. No other take-off will work.

Have you been soaring lately, or have you been more like a canary, in a cage singing a little tune but not accomplishing very much? Or perhaps like a buzzard, sitting on telephone poles, watching everybody else, eating dead things. Or do you look more like a peacock, pruning your feathers?

God rested on the 7th day not because God needed to rest…
Blur blur me found out what the 7th day rest really means… clarified! Hope u guys will see why God rested on the 7th day, esp those who were thinking along with us during SG!

First, God rested on the seventh day, Sabbath. The all-powerful God was not tired from creating the heavens and the earth, and yet the Bible shows that God rested on the seventh day, Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath holy by resting was God’s first example to man. Here, “rest” simply means that God stopped or ceased His work of creation. God’s rest was not the rest of inactivity. It was a rest in distinction to His creative activities of the previous six days.

Second, God blessed the seventh day, Sabbath. This means that God gave the seventh day a special quality of goodness. He created a quality of blessing for the seventh day not given to any other day of the week. Notice that none of the other days of the week were blessed, only the seventh day.

Third, God sanctified or made holy the seventh day, Sabbath. By sanctifying or making the seventh day holy, God declared and made the seventh day to be sacred or holy time.

God did more than merely rest on that first Sabbath. “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it ? (Genesis 2:3). This was God’s final act in His creation week. He took the last day (seventh day) of the creation week and set it apart as a special day. God made the seventh day Sabbath special by blessing it and setting it apart from the other six days.

Taken from
http://www.rezconnection.org/index.cfm/method/content.47E25507-283C-47F5-A0AF9DFAB6ECAF06

About the 3 heavens… check this website out:
http://www.carm.org/questions/threeheavens.htm

erm, there’s a lot to study here… so I guess it’d be good if we can meet up to find out more… Meanwhile, it addresses issues on women dressing modestly so as to not be distracting during worship, and that women should be submissive (interesting interesting… haha. we’ll learn more eh?)… errr… yah. I’ll go read up more. Meanwhile, you all read up more too k! Then we’ll come together and look at it!

It’s 1.55am and all the same, I praise God! I’m a little figure walking on this earth who finds it very hard to share the gospel with my friends, especially university friends. Actually when I started school, I was really praying to God that I’d find a nice comfy Christian clique to support each other throughout tertiary life. But, nope that didn’t happen. I spent most of my time in school with a non-christian clique complete with their own world views.

Sigh, no Christian support from close buddies in my course.

But, now, at 1.58am, I praise God because I see why I’m there with this group of friends! He has placed me to help Him with sowing the seeds. If you think I’d have no prob sharing the gospel, that’s a complete no-no. My ‘girl gang’ in school is all too familiar with my shortcomings, impatience, last minute work and wadever nots. And they know that I’m a Christian. Oh yes, not the most shining testimony… (haha)

An hour ago, this friend from my ‘girl gang’ started to ask me (on MSN) about some homework stuff and the conversation took a change when she talked about how sore she felt when our academic results don’t reflect the effort. She shared that she had no idea how to get thru the module and get A grades. In my reply, I just honestly told her I didnt know how to get As either and I could only do my best….

friend: I wish I can have your attitude…
JT: *pat pat* actually I used to be v gan jiong one… but I know God is in control mah. So enjoy studying and do your best loh.
friend: how to enjoy studying. It’s depressing
JT: yah lah…sometimes itz not fair…u do all you can already n sometmes don’t do well… Working for grades is not very gd motivation for me haha…

so, I just honestly shared what I thought… the converstion led on and we talked about being fair and who decides what’s fair. We talked about the ever-changing values and what values we should cling on to. We talked about family and our religion and money… like how money dictates the value of a profession or the value or some thing. I also found out that she was somewhat interested in Christianity but is embarrassed to have it as a religion because of family… and she thinks itz not time to think about it now… and she doesn’t want to have the commitment… Throughout the whole time, I didnt talk about creation and all those step-by-step share the gospel stuff. We just talked and I told her that Christianity is not about having people who are capable of being devoted to God. It’s about our relationship with God and it’s precisely because we are messed up and cmi that we need God.

I guess when we share the gospel with out friends, it’s about praying for them, being honest with them and sharing our lives with them. I’m not a perfect person or a perfect testimony. But God still uses me and I praise Him that He should give me such privilege!

So don’t be afraid, keep praying and may God work through us to sow and prepare the harvest!

Ps: Pls pardon my grammar and spelling errors :p

(So much has happened and there’s so much I wanted to blog about… Bible Trail, D’edge camp, X’identity, Carolling, Junior Meet Senior… but erm, I haven’t settled myself down to reflect n start blogging till recently… so here’s a rather emotive entry from my other blog…)

_________________________________________________

Man, small and vulnerable indeed. We are at the mercy of the forces of nature.

I was in Malaysia when the Tsunami occurred. In fact, in the morning at about 10am, I was at the beach in a small town called Mersing. Desaru beach to be exact. Just the night before, I was watching the movie “Blue Crush” and was probably half-dreaming about surfing on blue glassy waves. That morning, I was staring at shallow choppy waves washing up the vast bay at great speed. Salty, humid air was blowing strongly.

At that moment, I recalled the time when I was at East Coast Park. The moon was at its nearest to the earth. It looked way bigger than its normal size of a fifty-cent coin. It was more like a hoola hoop. That day, the waves were huge. The waves crashed on the shore and washed right up to the bicycle path. All the bbq pits and benches were drenched and washed and swept. My friends and I were so excited about this that we started to play around in the waters. We were all laughing and playing when we saw our slippers floating away with the waves.

Ironically, the same morning brought the awakening of the horrors of horrors. Yesterday, the death toll reported on the news was 22,000. Today, numbers more than doubled to 55,000. It’s climbing fast fast fast. Who would expect oneself who’s healthy and wealthy enough to enjoy a holiday by the beach to meet the end of their journey in life there and then?

None.

None of them.

Life is unpredictable. Somehow, man never remembers that. We plan so hard to have a good life, graduate with a good degree, find a good job, build a warm family, eat a good healthy diet, make our retirement plans… and we forget that we are not in control of everything. Who controls the forces of nature? Who determines the end of your life? Do you control your own with a good diet, a healthy lifestyle, doing your best and by living in a natural-disaster-safe place? NO.
We are at the forces of nature. Killer Tsunami tells you.

But, we know who is in charge of the killer Tsunami. God.

God is the very One who is in charge of everything. Every time. Every place.

And I thank God that I know God. I’d tell my parents that if I’d found the courage to be less squirmish about my conviction in God and in Christ at home. Sometimes, I really cannot stand my lack of courage and my passiveness when I’ve had a chance to confront misaligned and misconceptions about God at home. If I had dared, I would have told them that God is the One who determines the time and place of our birth and what we would do and our whole lives. I would have told them if my time is up, I’d thank God coz I know that I have finished what He has set out for me to do. I know I can leave everything behind because I have finished my work. My responsibilities are done. There’s nothing to fear and no undone businesses to leave behind.
Man refuse to have his life end because he may think that this life is all there is. Many, though they don’t admit it, fear death or refuse to have it come because there are many things in life which they haven’t fulfilled or haven’t completed. There are so many things to be done. When will it ever be finished? But if you know that the eternal God holds all these in His hands, you know that when He calls you home, He has all the rest in His Mighty, Loving hand too.

I antagonize what many would think. But it is true. God is real.

I pray that my courage to tell the world that God is real doesn’t stop at blogging. May it be an outflow of my conviction.

I would have written way more because I know some of you may ask why God is so cruel as to send the Tsunami and 911 and all the disasters in life. But I shall stop here for now.

This is a long read and what I previously wanted to blog about seemed so trivial compared to the wake-up call to the truth that God is the One who rules over all.