I was reading Genesis 13 about Abraham and Lot splitting up to avoid dispute.

In Genesis 13, Abraham let Lot choose the land first. Lot chose the better land for himself and had Abraham take all the bad lands. Doesn't this resemble many times when we try to be kind to a friend we end up getting taken advantage of? I guess, if we look at it in the way the world teach us to see it, it will be as it seems.

However, as we read on in Genesis 13, God spoke to Abraham after the whole episode,

"14The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.""

It is shown that God will bless us if we had been a blessing to the people around us. Sometimes the grace God show us may not be immediate or very obvious, however, being a blessing to people around us will definitely yield positive result in a long run. We should never stop being a blessing to the people around us.

all of us here ... this is our prayer requests. add yours ...

other than work, studies, energy levels..

Jiayi - Exams are so near! I am just a couple of weeks away from exams. These couple of weeks before exams are here, I been bombarded with lots of quiz, which I think it's a good thing at least I can start studying. Been lagging a lot in all aspect of my work. Hope I can catch up quickly and pray that I dun compromise time with God.

johan - that i can get bck to connecting with ppl like my sg and church ... been too busy and uncompromising when it comes to meeting up ... and not being relationship-centric and too self-centred instead.

Huzaen- Get rid of the lazy bug bite. Learn to be more loving to the people around me. And to stop judging people.

jared- perseverance and determination for training, prepping for season next year.....continue with qt, erm try to socialise more if it is even possible that is....yep thats about all...cheerios=)

spencer - relationships with people around me. stop slacking?

raimy - able to join-in for youth service again as lacking of time off on sat, preparing for the long working hours at workplace, also be reminded that God is working in me and looking forward what's next in God's plan. thats all cheers!

Fight From Victory, Not For Victory

Ephesians 6:11
11Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

God does not need you to defeat the devil today. Jesus has already done it and given you the victory. (Colossians 2:15, Romans 8:37) Your part is to enforce the victory by simply standing your ground, which is victory ground. In other words, you “fight” from victory ground by standing. You don’t fight for victory.

In Ephesians 6:10–18, the passage on spiritual warfare, the word “wrestle” appears only once (verse 12), while the word “stand” appears four times — “… stand against the wiles of the devil…” (verse 11), “… withstand in the evil day…” (verse 13), “… and having done all, to stand…” (verse 13), “Stand therefore…”. (verse 14) Four times the Holy Spirit tells us to “stand”. Yet, many Christians are focusing on wrestling their way to victory!

My friend, you are already on victory ground. You already have everything in Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:21, 23) You are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3). The devil knows this. And that is why his tactic is to deceive you and make you think that you don’t have the victory.

So when he attacks you by saying, “Look at that meagre balance in your bank account! How are you going to pay the bills?” stand your ground. Declare, “I am not trying to be rich, I am rich. In Christ, I am rich!” It doesn’t matter how much you have in the bank. You are rich because you are in Christ. And as the need arises, the supply will be there if you believe you are rich.

It is the same with healing. The devil will try to attack you with symptoms in your body. He will try to put pain in your body, and make you feel weakness here and there, so that you think that you are still sick. He is trying to make you believe that you don’t have your healing. Call his bluff there and then. Say, “No devil, I am not trying to get healed, I am healed! I am standing on the victory ground which Jesus gave me!”

My friend, it makes a world of difference when you fight from victory and not for victory!

raimy here again haha...

God has reminded us once again to put on His armour and to stand firm in all battles with satan. May God bless us in all our doings, esp school work, work area, friends, and the surroundings. Hope the week its been great for you guys as we're busy with things that occupies in us. God is good! and He is always there! see you guys in small group sharing this sat.

Shalom..

Prayer List & Seminar!

johan here!

we have a load of prayer requests that we have yet to upload here. but let's see what i can remember so far ...

nizam - financial shalom ... work hard, save enough and take care on tt bike!
jared - thanksgiving for results & pray for -wink wink- ... in His time dude
huzaen - tt he gets spiritual chicken soup for cure his physical flu ... hang in there dude
raimy - thanksgiving that he got his off days! esp in time to celebrate Christ's birth
jiayi - stress levels shooting up and purity ... keep each other accountable guys!
spencer - oops ... havent caught up with him ... but i know he aint having the best time
shane - no replies to smses ... help guys? but his practical exams have started and o lvls start next next wk. his number is nine seven nine seven three six seven O.
me - stress! God's guidance! aching shoulders from stress and studying at the high table

we are gonna be starting Genesis, guys! we will this wk. was also asking nizam about the idea of conducting a short sharing seminar on financial advice and see what the Bible says about being financially prudent. think most of us could do with some advice on managing money ...

what do you guys think?

Your Words Carry Power

Ecclesiastes 8:4
4Where the word of a king is, there is power.

In biblical times, a king’s word carried tremendous power. What he decreed would come to pass. If he said, “Raise taxes,” the taxes were raised.

Do you know that we are kings? The Bible tells us that Jesus has washed us from our sins with His blood and made us kings. (Revelation 1:5–6) And as kings in Christ, our words carry power too.

When we place our hands on a sick person and say, “Be healed,” the person is healed! When we lay hands on our children and say, “Be blessed,” our children are blessed! For there is power in our words — the words of kings!

When I was a young Christian in my teens, I wanted to practise what I had learnt about the power of my words. There was this plant near my home and whenever I passed by it, I would say to it, “Be cursed in Jesus’ name!”

Many days passed. And I will never forget the day when I noticed that the leaves of the plant had turned brown! You may want to try this at home with your potted plants. But bless them instead!

Since our words carry power, can you imagine the harm we do when we say to our loved ones things like “You are always so careless”, “You are good for nothing” or “You are so stupid”? We are cursing them!

The devil is happy when you use the power of your words against your loved ones or even yourself. He wants to see you defeated. So instead of saying, “I am always short of money,” say, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1) And stop saying, “I am so useless. I don’t think I can do it.” Instead, start saying, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Beloved, remember that as a king, what you say will come to pass because where the word of a king is, there is power. So learn to say what God says about you and see His promises come to pass in your life!

Daily Devotion by New Creation Church.
p/s: Just to fill up the empty post to assure that this blog is not empty and visited always. hehe

Remember: God is always there when you are in need of Him. Keep Him in touch with your prayers. In everything you do, do it in the strength of Christ. God bless!

posted by raimy(:

Are we being sensible?

Ever wonder, what happens life after death?

Frankly speaking, I don't know.

My pastor tells me I go to heaven if I believe in Jesus.

My mom tells me I go to hell whether or not I believe in Jesus.

My friends tell me when I die I don't go anywhere 'cos there's no hell nor heaven.

One of them gotta be right.

But...

IF I die, where would I rather be?

I wanna go to heaven or just die and .

Jesus teaches me to be a good man and bring peace to the world. Be a good neighbour so I could be a blessing to people around me. He promises me salvation 'cos He has died for my sins.

Though other gods teaches me to be a good man, but they do not promise me a promising future.

Jesus says if I repent and be a good man on earth he would bring me to a place called paradise. He promises me peace and promises to be my friend when even when all my friends turn their back on me. He promise he will never forsake me.

IF right now YOU have a choice.
You can either...
1. Lead a hedonistic life, have lots of casual sex, risking getting STD, getting pregnant and getting abortion, get high, ruining other's life and your own life and just die a horrible death. Imagine a world without law and order because everyone just wants to be happy and have some irresponsible fun. After which we still die, whether it's hell or a fullstop. After everything you know there is no place for you in this place called heaven.

2. Lead a life not worrying about ruining other's life. We know we won't get STD 'cos we don't go around screwing every other girl we see. We get don't get high and lead a pretty good life( minus the getting high part). We know life is much more pleasant in this world because we don't need to worry about junkies or drunks attacking us for money for dope. All we do is to believe in God and do what he teaches. We know there is a place called heaven. Even if there is no heaven, my karma will probably do me some good 'cos I don't live an irresponsible life. Even if life ends with a fullstop, at least I know I haven't been a pest to the society.

It's your choice. I made mine. Have you made yours?

Thanksgiving, confessions and requests............... 6/10/07

Maiden post for the very new small group website! Don't we just love modern technology... Let's start with a cheerful note. We sure got lots of things to thank God about.

Thanksgiving.......
1. Shane L1R5 was improved from 20 points to 14 points after moderation.
2. Johan had a great presentation; got an interview from British American Tobacco Company (I know it's bad to make people smoke, but he's not doing advertising... Nothing wrong with that huh); trust in the Lord more
3. Jared finished promos... finally time for a break.
4. Huzaen had his friend play cello for his symphony band! He also got his specialization in Bioinformatics
5. Nizam got his riding license and he's got his nice hulky bike.
6. Jiayi made more friends in his course. He has become generally more happy now.

Have we been a good boy??? Confessions... confessions...

Generally, we have all been bad this week. Inconsistent bible study and looking at naughty stuff... sigh...

Ask & Receive

Nizam wants Financial Shalom and hopes to get enlisted in quickly so he can get on with life

Huzaen wants discipline in all aspect of his life... (bible study, prayer, orchestra, studying and cutting down on playing so much PSP)

Johan finally got his break. He wants to rest and be disciplined in doing his work and spending time with God.

Jiayi hopes auntie's mission will succeed. Hope he gets his GIP placement in CPG Environmental Co. or any company...

Everyone wants to fight our struggles with temptations and inconsistencies. We also want to bring friends to know God.