yEEah!!! managed to backup my sms to my pc says:Sharing this, 'cos hope it helps anyone else too! :)
God gave us a unique set of talents and abilites
so understand ur strength n uniqueness
tryin to compare n trying to be somebody else only makes u forget ur uniqueness n strength
but of course this shld not be an excuse against where u can grow n improve in
just a disclaimer ha
u dun ask a melee hero to do a range hero thing
it pointless u try to ask Skeleton King to shoot aeros like Bone fletcher
"Morn yew ann! Wana thank u for always rem me. Though i may be a missing sheep among ur herd, but i always keep in mind u as mi shepherd, n i still have faith n believe in Him. Thank u for ur past guidance n patience..."Whee! :D Thank You so much dear Lord... that SMS came in as a totally unexpected blessing... esp the part in bold. It encourages me to keep on sowing and sharing the gospel with others, 'cos that's really the greatest gift you can give others for Christmas - the good news about a Saviour born 2000 years ago: Christ the Lord!
Something more than physical nourishment is needed if we are to - really live. We require also the spiritual sustenance that is to be found in the words that come from the mouth of God. 'Our souls... are word-shaped.'.. [O]ur relationships to others (and also to ourselves) are shaped by some 'word' or other, some idea or philosophy of what it means to be a person. From the moment we begin our education a variety of 'words' are pumped into us about who we are and how to find our identity in this world, and whatever 'word' we accept, that becomes the moulding influence which determines how we view ourselves and others.
So often it is the 'word' of men, not the Word of God, that is taken to heart by us, and that then becomes the power that shapes our thinking about life and other things. The shape our souls take is determined largely by what 'word' we accept and assimilate. If God's Word does not have pride of place in our souls, then quite simply, our souls will not develop or function in the way they were designed.
2 Corinthians 3:18
"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
Judges 6:14
The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have[...] Am I not sending you?"
The aim of this blog is to set you thinking; that living a life with and in God is just as relevant, possible and if not more exciting to have in our contemporary day-to-day life. Hopefully it empowers you too to live a full life that you meant to have with God.
Christmas isn't Christmas
Till it happens in your heart
Somewhere deep within you
Is where Christmas really starts...
So give your heart to Jesus
You'll discover when you do
That it's Christmas,
Really Christmas for you...
Luke 2:13-14
At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
Think of something that happened to you recently and then use the following five questions to help you create the story. I shall use my story as an example.
1. What happened?
An auntie tried to hit on me in the train.
2. Who was involved?
Auntie and myself.
3. How can people connect or relate to this story?
We all take trains and have encounters of strangers trying to start a conversation with us.
4. What is funny?
Her opening line: Wah! Apple computer wor… and before I could acknowledge her, she reached out and started touching my laptop.
I knew her entire family history within five stops. And I suspect the rest of the passengers too coz she was speaking very loud.
And why does people with bad breath love to tell you secrets???!!!
The passengers were enjoying the entire drama between the auntie and me.
The best part of the conversation was in this line: Aiyah.. I have to alight at the next stop already… And in my head, I went Wooooooohooooooo!!!
5. What are the lessons or messages?
We find it weird to strike a conversation with some stranger but that should not be the case. In fact, the weird part is we find it weird.
"For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on your backs.
You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance."
"If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!" :D
"As most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our nature and not along the lines of God’s nature, therefore we need to be watchful not to follow the drum beat of our culture about the goodness of personal wealth and material prosperity.
Instead, we need to be rooted in His word and advocate a theology of stewardship which puts other people’s necessities before our own luxuries. We also need to simplify our lifestyles and get a clear grasp on God’s priorities including His special concern for the poor and destitute of the world.
Even if we aim to succeed in the marketplace, it should be aligned with a motivation of wanting to be an influence to others for God, and not for worldy wealth."
Depression may increase the risk of the bone disorder osteoporosis in premenopausal women, a study suggests.
A US study found 17% of depressed women but just 2% of those not depressed, had thinner bone in a part of the hip.
It found depressed women had overactive immune systems, making too many chemicals that promote inflammation including one that promotes bone loss.
The Archives of Internal Medicine study compared 89 depressed women with 44 non-depressed women, all aged 21 to 45.[read more...]
Proverbs 17:22
A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Researchers in New York believe they have solved one of the great mysteries of the flu: Why does the infection spread primarily in the winter months?
The answer, they say, has to do with the virus itself. It is more stable and stays in the air longer when air is cold and dry, the exact conditions for much of the flu season. [read more...]
Heather Kuzmich has the neurological disorder known as Asperger’s syndrome. She is socially awkward, has trouble making eye contact and is sometimes the target of her roommates’ jokes.
But what makes the 21-year-old Ms. Kuzmich different from others with Asperger’s is that for the past 11 weeks, her struggle to cope with her disability has played out on national television.
She is one of 13 young women selected by the supermodel Tyra Banks to compete on the popular reality television show “America’s Next Top Model.” The addition of Heather Kuzmich to an otherwise superficial show has given millions of viewers an unusual and compelling glimpse into the little-understood world of Asperger’s. [read more...]
1 O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Because we are imperfect, we have infinite number of weaknesses; you will never finish solving all the problems. Because God is perfect, He has infinite strengths; you will never finish counting all his blessings. So quit counting your problems. They are infinite as long as you are on Earth.
The day you have no more problems, you are in heaven.
The day you have no more blessings, you are in hell.
My family traditionally begins the evening meal with a prayer of
thanks. When they were old enough, we began letting our children say
the meal prayer. Of course at first they would ask for a pony, a new
bike, etc. They soon learned the more important things which should
be included in the prayer.
At Thanksgiving we had the whole family over. My nine year old wanted
to say the prayer. It went like this:
"Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the turkey, the rolls, the mashed
potatoes, the red jiggly stuff, and the bread stuff even though I
don't like it. We ask that You not let us choke on this food."
(Most of us nearly choked just trying not to laugh!)
“Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” (2 Chronicles 1:10)
Nurturing and advancing a biblical worldview requires a great many things, but none more than the two things Solomon sought from the Lord—wisdom and knowledge. David’s son inherited a huge worldview challenge—to rule Israel so that the goodness of God would flourish among His people in every area of life and every city of the land. Who, he wondered aloud to God, was sufficient for such a task? Who is sufficient for ruling even his own life according to the broad demands and exceeding great and precious promises of the revelation of God?
As Solomon felt helpless before the calling God had set for him, so we all must feel at times as we contemplate the calling to nurture and advance the biblical worldview within our own spheres of influence. We shall need much wisdom and knowledge from the Lord if we are to know success in this effort. Solomon can help us in learning to acquire and use these precious commodities, for unless we understand the distinct nature of wisdom and knowledge, how they are to be gained, and to what ends we must put them, we may not expect the Lord to bless our pursuit of them, nor our efforts in biblical worldview living.
Knowledge: The Prerequisite of Wisdom
What’s the difference between wisdom and knowledge? Clearly, the two are intimately related. In fact, it is impossible to separate them. One cannot be said truly to know something until the wisdom that knowledge engenders begins to be in evidence. Nor can one practice wisdom without the requisite knowledge and information that requires. There is an ineradicable overlap between knowledge and wisdom, and this, at the very least, demands that we not separate the two, or try to gain the one without the other, but that, like Solomon, we seek the two of them as part and parcel of one another and together integral to fulfilling our worldview calling. But first we must make sure we understand what we’re seeking.
Let’s begin with knowledge. The nature of knowledge would seem to be fairly straightforward: knowledge is what someone knows. But that’s not entirely true, and concerning this we may make three observations. First, the very idea of knowledge assumes that things have an identity by which they can be known. That is, we assume, in presuming to know something, that it already exists as something possessing a distinct identity which, to know, is to acquire knowledge of the thing. Nothing is a simply neutral thing. Everything has an identity, and this is especially so when we consider that everything that is has its origins in the mind of God, who is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Things are what God says they are. Solomon understood this and, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, he distinguished between knowing things apart from God—which he referred to by the phrase, “under the sun”—and knowing things according to God—which Solomon meant by the phrase, “under the heavens.”
To know something according to its merely temporal and material existence—“under the sun”—is vanity and feeding on the wind. Trying to know things apart from God, Solomon insisted to his son, does not result in true knowledge at all, but merely half-truth, disappointment, and frustration. To know something truly, Solomon explained, you must see it according to the divine perspective, from God’s point of view, as He, the Maker and Sustainer of all things, intends it should be known.
So, in the first place, to know anything truly we must establish some link, some identity, between the thing we are seeking to know and the God who made and sustains it. Only from His point of view will we be able to approach true knowledge of anything. Information gained about anything apart from God may be true, at least to an extent, but this will be in spite of the perspective of the knower rather than because of it. Further, such knowledge of anything runs the distinct danger of being misunderstood and put to uses for which God never intended the thing.
Second, Solomon tells us that we must be prepared, in our search for true knowledge, to be content with only partial knowledge. We cannot, he insisted (Ecclesiastes 3:11), know anything exhaustively or completely. We cannot see things with the perfect mind of God, but only with a reflection of that mind, a mind informed by the worldview of Scripture and the counsel of the Spirit of God. Paul says we see things in this life darkly, as in a mirror; full, complete, and entirely true knowledge must wait for the day when we are glorified in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 13:12).
This does not mean that we can’t truly know. We can, but only in degrees of truthfulness and completeness. So we must always be seeking to “upgrade” our knowledge of anything, and be open to other perspectives, insights, and ways of thinking about familiar knowledge of anything and everything, if only to offer a critique of those views when compared with our Biblical perspective.
However—and this is the third point, already mentioned—even though we cannot know exhaustively, we can know truly, as Solomon indicates throughout Ecclesiastes. The knowledge we gain concerning anything whatsoever will be true to the extent we are able to establish the link between that thing and the design of God to glorify Himself in all the things He has made. Moreover, the true knowledge we have of anything can always be improved; therefore, we should be always involved in seeking more and better knowledge of everything, always, of course, from the perspective of “under the heavens.”
This, in fact, is what Solomon sought to do. Having prayed for knowledge, and been assured by God that he would possess it, Solomon set out to acquire knowledge, as he says in Ecclesiastes 1:13, by applying himself diligently to the task of seeking and searching out by wisdom all things that are and are done “under the heavens.” He set a course of study for himself, in other words, devoting himself to the investigation of God’s Law, keen observations on the creation, on culture matters, and on the ways of human conscience and conduct. All the observations he made and studies he pursued he referred to God’s self-revelation in Scripture, in order to gain the divine perspective on such things.
The Book of Proverbs is a wonderful collection of just a small portion of the true knowledge Solomon gained through his labors. True knowledge, knowledge that is becoming more and more complete, doesn’t come easily. Solomon said that God has made this a “difficult task” and has appointed it to us so that we might fulfill the purposes of His Kingdom (Ecclesiastes 1:13).
Wisdom: The Fruit of Knowledge
This brings us to wisdom, which is the fruit of true knowledge. Solomon said he tested all his studies and observations “by wisdom” (Ecclesiastes 1:13). That is, he would only allow himself to conclude that he had learned something—that he had come to true knowledge of anything—when it led to wisdom in his life. Wisdom, or “skill in living,” relates to following the spiritual and moral code of God, increasing in love for Him and for our neighbor, and seeking to do all things in such a way as to bring honor and glory to God. We can know that we know something truly when it leads us to greater love for God and neighbor, and when, by the use of that knowledge, we bring honor to God. This is wisdom, as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes make abundantly clear. In order to gain wisdom we must pursue knowledge. But we can only be sure that we have come to know something truly, albeit incompletely, when what we know produces wisdom in our lives. Knowledge is the prerequisite of wisdom; wisdom is the fruit of true knowledge.
But both wisdom and knowledge come from the Lord. Both begin in the fear of God (Proverbs 1:7; Psalm 111:10); without fear of God—that reverent awe and respect that lead to love and obedience—we can’t hope to increase in knowledge and wisdom. And both come from the Lord, who gives them, as with Solomon, in response to our prayers. So that unless our quest for knowledge and wisdom is suffused with prayer, bathed with prayer, pursued and reviewed in prayer, we cannot hope to gain these precious commodities with anything more than a mere modicum of success.
Knowledge, Wisdom, and Service
But we should also note that Solomon’s desire for knowledge and wisdom was entirely selfless. He sought neither fame nor wealth by becoming knowledgeable and wise; rather, he sought the ability to judge the people of Israel well, according to the Law and promises of God. He sought the progress of God’s rule among His people and before the eyes of all the nations. Solomon understood that knowledge is not an end in itself, nor is wisdom. Rather, these good gifts of God, these essential components for biblical worldview living, are to be received from God for the purpose of serving others. If we seek them for any other end—to impress others, or gain some personal advantage—we forfeit the richer blessings God might otherwise bestow. All our studies and all the practical ways we seek to become wise must be to the end of serving others as God Himself would do were He among us as King. In fact, He is King, not among us, but rather, over us, and He accomplishes His holy, righteous, and good rule (Romans 7:12), a rule of righteousness, peace, and joy in His Spirit (Romans 14:17), through faithful servants, like Solomon, who seek from Him knowledge and wisdom to serve others in love.
All of which is to say that biblical worldview requires the kind of knowledge that comes from earnest, devoted study, together with the wisdom that proves that knowledge out in love for God and men. These we must earn in the study and on our knees, pleading with God for the gifts He alone can give. And biblical worldview proves the truth of the knowledge it claims in the wisdom for loving well that knowledge engenders.
So as we take up the further study of biblical worldview, let us never lose sight of these five things: First, such study is difficult and time-consuming. It pleases God that it should be so; nothing easily gained is worth much anyway. Second, such knowledge is only true to the extent that it finds its identity in the eternal purposes and plan of God. Third, all the knowledge we gain in all our study is only ever partly true; our knowledge is always incomplete and can always be improved. Thus, we must commit to lives of perpetual study and review if we would improve the knowledge God grants us. Forth, such knowledge proves its truthfulness in wise and loving worship and service. And, finally, without prayer we shall not be able to acquire the knowledge and wisdom we seek for biblical worldview living.
There will always be more to know and more wisdom to gain for worshiping God and loving others. The challenge to us is to make the time for study and prayer, so that we, like Solomon, might be used in service to others, for the greater glory of God.
For Reflection
How are you presently pursuing growing in knowledge and wisdom? Is your prayer life sufficient to ensure that you will always increase in these commodities?
"It's so good oh Father God, tears started welling up in my eyes.
To be back in Your presence..."
See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come...
