Everything in life...

This skit makes so much sense to me. What about you?

The start is a bit slow but keep watching. It gets better!! When I watched it I almost wanted to cry... coz God loves US so much! We are FREE in Him!

Taking A Step up the Mountain

I was reflecting on a session we had yesterday on being "mountain people" - aka... being on top of the mountain as opposed to down in the valley. I think that the most exciting time of our life in Christ is actually when we’ve taken our first step for the Lord up the mountain!

Why? Because it's precisely at this point of time, when we've mustered enough courage or are desperate enough to take that first step towards seeking God --- that we actually:
1) Would strive to conquer all our doubts and move forward in Faith.
2) Enter a “spring” season which makes us look forward in anticipation to that upward climb up the mountain to seek God’s face and hear His voice.
3) Leave our valleys – our past, our fears, our problems.. and actively look for higher ground.

When we take the proactive approach - to make something out of our dreams, our situation, our lives, we know for sure that we will be rewarded somehow - at the top of the mountain - by God's presence, and blessings of abundance.

Therefore, that FIRST step up the mountain, to me, is the most exciting moment!

Of course, reaching the top of a mountain and looking around is equally exciting... but somehow you have a little nagging feeling that you are nearing the end of the climb and you either stay, (and get stale) or go back down into valley once again!

While it doesn't mean going right back into the same past/problem again - it means we'll have to do the difficult work of change, or forgiveness, or anything that God has instructed us to do that would to solve that problem. And that is the hard part isn't it? We may be called to greater obedience, greater holiness, and a deeper christian life!

But we can't keep still on one mountain. Maybe it's only Mount Kinabalu that we've scaled. There's still Mt. Everest!!

So God invites us to scale the next.. even higher mountain.

Are we up to that challenge?

And if we are already up the mountain, perhaps we need to take one step down. Coz one day, we will still need to come down from the "peaks" of enjoying God and go through the wilderness again, aka cross another valley -- to scale the next mountain, with new knowledge and strength from having been refreshed by God, knowing that He being our provider, will sustain us through that valley till our next destination.

It’s really like scaling peak after peak! Challenging life indeed isn't it?

That’s the Christian life!

He Never Sleeps He never tires...

God is faithful. He never sleeps, he never tires of hearing our prayers. I seem to be listening to a lot of "Don Moen" lately.. hehe.. blame it on the recent Festival of Praise. Don Moen was great!

Anyway, that aside, his song, "He never sleeps" speaks about how God never tires of hearing our prayers, our needs.

“One day I realised I had prayed the same thing to God every night,” says Moen in introduction of “He Never Sleeps.” “But God is never too tired to hear our prayers, even it’s the same everyday. He is one that never sleeps.”

And so,.. God is never far, never distant, never too busy for us. HE's always there. Forgiving, loving, welcoming.

But, isn't God too good, that we take His Love forgranted? We think we have 1 day more to repen, or that we'll surely have another chance the next time. We relax. And then we slip. And before we know it, we fall.

That sounds really bad. But did you also know that God is ever patient? If we fell, he'll pick us up. He died on the cross so that we might live. HE already took the fall for us. If we felt we've fallen, we simply have to say "sorry" to Jesus.

We might end up thinking... "If Only.. if only... if only...."

But what could we have done differently? We all have our fair share of failures and successes.

So then, if we are not just complaining (or in a self-pitiful mode)... and if we really needed something, such as "if only I was well again..." .. the answer is... "WHy NOT?" SImply... ASK the Lord - who is ever ready to give. ASK the Lord to change you, to move on your behalf.

Just have faith! We need to exercise our faith every now and then!

Well.. Unless... there's some barrier. Is there any sin, barrier, disbelief, doubt,.. in the Lord?

Let us strive to trust the Lord.. for HE is on OUR side. YOUR side. HE IS FOR US! Not against us. Let us also STAND for Him!

Let us never tire of serving Him, of praising and worshipping Him!

Let us pray in the Spirit!

Let us never sleep "spiritually" - let us be alert and watchful - for the gentle voice of the Spirit speaking to us as we pray to the Father.

Let us seek the Lord!

PSALM 8:4-8
What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen -- even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.

Listen to Accappella version of "He Never Sleeps" by Take 6 (same lyrics but different tune)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCUEzuwhDVU

ARISE by Don Moen

Hey I didn't know Don Moen had a song called "Arise".

And i just remember one of my old dream... I once dreamt of the word "Arise"? In this dream, I was holding on to a balloon that was flying higher and higher... and I was going to be lifted off the ground and so it took a few more people to jump on to hold us down... but it was pulling us all upwards very strongly!

Now that I think of it... spiritually.. isn't it a feeling of being uplifted?

Enjoy!

Arise
by Don Moen
album:

One Thing we ask of You
One thing that we desire
That as we worship You
Lord, come and change our lives
Arise, Arise, Arise, Arise

Chorus
Arise, take Your place
Be enthroned on our praise
Arise, King of kings
Holy God, as we sing
Arise, Arise, Arise, Arise

Bridge
We lift You up
We lift You up
We lift You up on our praises

Hear it performed by a band:

Let our love shine!

Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Be hospitable to one another without complaining.
As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.
Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4:8-11

Read the ONLINE New American Bible at http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/