hello everyone!
i've decided to take pink! because that's my favourite colour (and NO, i'm not a bimbo). hahaha.
anyway, thanks to tianyi for coming up with this cool blog! i'm just curious.. why "valleybythesea"? any special significance?
okay tonight is my massive blogging day. hmm for what has been really bugging me this week, go check out my recent post on RAFT. it's really long, i'm sorry, but i'm a lit student :D
so now that you've all read that, let me share on how my spiritual life has been recently. i thank God that it has really picked up ever since the last worship set i led around a month ago, and even though sometimes i still get bogged down by work and worry (i'm human after all), God has given me the grace to stand under trials (1 Corinthians 10:13)
actually a few months' ago i was quite sad over my QT state, because for some reason i could never seem to spend more than 20min doing QT. and that's such a pathetic amount of time when you consider how those great men of faith like "Praying Hyde", J.O. Fraser can spend hours reading the Bible and praying. (go check out their stories! very inspiring). but anyway i left it at that because i thought that well, it's the quality and not the quantity that counts.
but the cool thing is that this week, as i started on my "Observations - Interpretations - Applications" thing, God has graciously helped me to spend even more time with Him! now i try to write down my prayer requests for each day, and it has really helped. i've become more focused in my prayers, and seeing how God answers (sometimes almost instantly) is really exciting. and for me, i just like the thrill of digging into His Word on my own and discovering things for myself. as i always believe, His Word was not written for the smart, but for lay people like us. so we can never say that we don't "understand", because we've the best Teacher at hand to give us insights :)
so, back to why this post is titled "breadcrumbs". i was thinking of the parable in Matthew 15:21-28 that Elder Edwin shared during his sermon on sunday. i think his message on prayer was very timely for me because i've been guilty of not praying enough. especially since there's the whole Christmas thing coming up, i really really need to pray and let God work! so the sermon was both a rebuke as well as a challenge to trust God with my plans.
i'm still very intrigued by the parable above because i feel like i'm just scratching the surface only, but anyway, the thing that stood out most for me is the level of FAITH AND HUMILITY that the woman had. she was willing to accept anything from God, because she knew that these "anything"s would become valuable simply because of the status of the Person who had thrown it down. how do i explain it? for me, the challenge lies in believing that whatever "crumbs" God might throw down into my life (i.e. supposedly bad things), they are actually GOOD FOR ME. and they are good not because they possess any inherent worth, but because the Person who threw it down (i.e. God) is wise, loving, kind, understanding etc.
i hope i managed to get that point across haha. so anyway, i guess this can be extrapolated to the youth ministry too. we are allowed to pray for good things, but we shouldn't start sulking when we get "lemons" instead. because God knows what's best, what's TIMELY, and we should really trust Him more in this aspect.
i've so much more to share! but must be focused haha. so that's all for this post, i'll pray and see if God prompts me to share more another day. for now, prayer request!
pray for the children's homes to reply me with POSITIVE answers by this friday. canossaville has already replied to say that they'll be closed and their Christmas schedule is already packed, so that's a closed door. i'm quite worried, naturally, but yes just trying to trust God with this :)
okay this blog is a fantastic idea because it indulges my propensity to be longwinded! hahaha. have a great week everyone :)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
read your comments
hey guys (once again),
pls read the comments at the end of your postings coz it's ya, my response to what u've written and all that. it's quite hard keeping in touch with people constantly and stuff so i'm gonna try to do so here in cyber land. haha. let's use this place to encourage one another ok? that's quite the point anyway. haha.
pls read the comments at the end of your postings coz it's ya, my response to what u've written and all that. it's quite hard keeping in touch with people constantly and stuff so i'm gonna try to do so here in cyber land. haha. let's use this place to encourage one another ok? that's quite the point anyway. haha.
wow
hey guys... (since it's only the guys who have posted thus far :P)
i'm really encouraged to read your postings, especially josh's. thanks for sharing so much. i'm actually supposed to be working on my essay now but ah, decided to take a break and write a bit about how my walk has been as well :)
hmm. one reason why i'm so on about having this blog is that we all have something to look back to, a description of the times when things are good or bad in whatever sense of the word and we see how God has brought us through. basically, this blog is sorta an enforced kind of journal entry thing? haha. enforced coz everyone (in the ymm comm) is supposed to blog at least once in 2 weeks as a sorta mutual accountability thing.
ok. personally, i'm so excited and encouraged about what God is doing in the ym. i don't think i've ever prayed so faithfully and fervently about the ym before! haha, yes, confession :P but it's so cool to be seeing people who have in the past, looked completely nonchalant, getting to their feet in excitement and praising God. of course, i don't know how personal spiritual walks are but yeah, personally, i find it hard to worship God in vibrancy and truth when my contentment is not found in Him. so yeah, let's keep praying and seeking for more of God's fire and passion in our ministry. i remember joel sharing during prayer meeting that apathy, like passion spreads fast too and well, let's distinguish all apathy with the passion God has poured and is pouring into our lives ya? :)
and let's remember to pray for those who haven't been coming too. there're probably some people whom God has put upon your heart coz of your relationship with the person or coz the person used to be so passionate about God but has somehow slipped away. let's pray for those lost sheep as well, even as we pray for the current sheep in the pen and those that have yet to know the Shepherd.
i'm reading Isaiah now and i'm loving it. both on the literary appreciation level and the spiritual level. haha. i just wanna share something that was so cool for me yesterday:
it's a sort of warning i guess... but eh, Isaiah is full of judgments and stuff actually although it is interspersed by passages of hope, repentance, forgiveness, God's favour and all that. but yes...
Isaiah 5
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
'For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.'
and yeah, it's the whole idea of how we are His children and we're called to bear good fruit and the judgment that follows if we keep deliberately disobeying him is that the barriers that surrounds us for protection will be removed (v5) and that there will be nothing to distinguish us from the rest of the world if we keep insisting on following its ways (v6). i know this might sound scary and harsh but well, the disconcerting passage in Revelations says the same thing:
Revelation 3:15-17
'... a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.'
i'm really encouraged to read your postings, especially josh's. thanks for sharing so much. i'm actually supposed to be working on my essay now but ah, decided to take a break and write a bit about how my walk has been as well :)
hmm. one reason why i'm so on about having this blog is that we all have something to look back to, a description of the times when things are good or bad in whatever sense of the word and we see how God has brought us through. basically, this blog is sorta an enforced kind of journal entry thing? haha. enforced coz everyone (in the ymm comm) is supposed to blog at least once in 2 weeks as a sorta mutual accountability thing.
ok. personally, i'm so excited and encouraged about what God is doing in the ym. i don't think i've ever prayed so faithfully and fervently about the ym before! haha, yes, confession :P but it's so cool to be seeing people who have in the past, looked completely nonchalant, getting to their feet in excitement and praising God. of course, i don't know how personal spiritual walks are but yeah, personally, i find it hard to worship God in vibrancy and truth when my contentment is not found in Him. so yeah, let's keep praying and seeking for more of God's fire and passion in our ministry. i remember joel sharing during prayer meeting that apathy, like passion spreads fast too and well, let's distinguish all apathy with the passion God has poured and is pouring into our lives ya? :)
and let's remember to pray for those who haven't been coming too. there're probably some people whom God has put upon your heart coz of your relationship with the person or coz the person used to be so passionate about God but has somehow slipped away. let's pray for those lost sheep as well, even as we pray for the current sheep in the pen and those that have yet to know the Shepherd.
i'm reading Isaiah now and i'm loving it. both on the literary appreciation level and the spiritual level. haha. i just wanna share something that was so cool for me yesterday:
it's a sort of warning i guess... but eh, Isaiah is full of judgments and stuff actually although it is interspersed by passages of hope, repentance, forgiveness, God's favour and all that. but yes...
Isaiah 5
The Song of the Vineyard
1 I will sing for the one I lovea song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
3 "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it."
basically, what struck me was that it's natural to expect a good harvest from good seeds. that should be how it is what. and ok, i cheated a bit here by searching the concordance but whilst reading, i was reminded about how WE are God's seeds:
1 Peter 1: 23'For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.'
and yeah, it's the whole idea of how we are His children and we're called to bear good fruit and the judgment that follows if we keep deliberately disobeying him is that the barriers that surrounds us for protection will be removed (v5) and that there will be nothing to distinguish us from the rest of the world if we keep insisting on following its ways (v6). i know this might sound scary and harsh but well, the disconcerting passage in Revelations says the same thing:
Revelation 3:15-17
'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.'
if u read on in Isaiah 5, there's mention about the acquisition of wealth for hoarding's sake and stuff so the passage above isn't out of context or what but hmm. in a more positive light, the passage from Isaiah reminds us that we are born of God through the blood of Christ, that we are
1 Peter 2:9'... a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.'
ok la. i need to get back to my essay :P but yeah, on a more encouraging and inspiring note,
the Lord 'will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.' (Isaiah 4:6)
i wonder who bothered to read through till the end :P haha.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
THIS IS TIANYI'S POST HA
yay well im here to post again. so im free from any people/person who will chase me to post.
This weeks been..ok so so sometimes i cant feel God sometimes i can...
and um yea. Thank God for helping me with my retest though. even when i didn't study(not that im proud of it)
and the paper was relatively doable
(is there such a word? i think its like.. Do-able..like able to do it or something)
ANYWAY... yah so thats my weeeek. oh no theres so much rain.
This weeks been..ok so so sometimes i cant feel God sometimes i can...
and um yea. Thank God for helping me with my retest though. even when i didn't study(not that im proud of it)
and the paper was relatively doable
(is there such a word? i think its like.. Do-able..like able to do it or something)
ANYWAY... yah so thats my weeeek. oh no theres so much rain.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Prayer requests
Hey guys, i know im supposed to share about my spiritual life etc. but i kinda got an urgent prayer request...
The classmate I'm witnessing to is interested to go for the camp but his parents are TOTALLY against Christianity... Yeah, he told me that his parents immediately stated NO when he asked his parents about the Transformers Camp... So I suppose we could pray for him. Conviction does not come from us, though, it comes from the Holy Spirit. Yeah and about my spiritual walk...
Not as long as Josh... xP but I think that it is pretty... ok in that sense... but I'm still trying to understand Pastor Adrian's message... Yeah and I "feel" that God is doing something mighty in the Youth Ministry and Satan is trying to fight back. Hard. So we could keep praying for the Youth Ministry, for Pastor as he is ministering to us and the apparent devil attack shown in Priscilla. But we believe God can do anything amen? And remember to pray for our classmates/ collegues/students/friends/slaves etc. that God will appear to them and they will see the LIGHT!!! Yeah and we gotta pray for each other. Cos the devil kinda hates us all... So we gotta make a stand and kick the devil in the butt when he comes to tempt us. Of course we cannot do it by our own strength. God is the only one who can strengthen us divine-ly to stand guard against the devil attacks. In Ephesians 6:14-18, Paul is talking about the armor of God. This verse kinda stands out to me.
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" Eph 6:18
Not only must we put on the armor of God, we gotta praying in the Spirit. Oh yah, the armor of God, in summary, is...
-Belt of Truth
-Breastplate of Righteousness
-Shoes filled with the Gospel of peace. (need some help interpreting this part)
-Shield of Faith
-Helmet of Salvation
-Sword of the Spirit.
I suppose these "items" can help us against devil attacks... Right? Hehe...
Another part I want to share about is in 2 Peter 2:1-22. To summarise it up, it is talking about false teachers during the end times. (which is about now... I think). Yeah so looking around, it seems kinda true right? All these talk about evolution and other stuff. They are all out to stop the Truth from spreading. I just wanna share this point so that we can all be geared up and ready for the next blow the devil will send. Cos if we are doing all these (serving in the Youth Ministry... different areas) in God's will (which I believe we all are) then the devil will go out to all odds to try to stop us, in terms of circumstances, emotional issues etc. I mean, when you tell someone secular about the Good News (generally, from what I've seen) they will think you are some kinda weirdo and they do not want to have anything to do with you. During Pastor's message on Sunday, he mentioned about righteous anger. It is frustrating right, seeing a lotta people rejecting the Good News. Ok lar, from what my classmates were telling me, they just cannot believe that Christ died for us. Christ died for us cos He loves us right?
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" Romans 3:23-24
Yeah, just want to end off with these few verses...
"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility" Ephesians 3:11
"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised"Hebrews 10:36
"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" 2 Peter 5:7
Yup... that's about all I have to share today.
God bless all of you amen,
Yong Quan
P.S this is abt 2 month's worth of... stuff
The classmate I'm witnessing to is interested to go for the camp but his parents are TOTALLY against Christianity... Yeah, he told me that his parents immediately stated NO when he asked his parents about the Transformers Camp... So I suppose we could pray for him. Conviction does not come from us, though, it comes from the Holy Spirit. Yeah and about my spiritual walk...
Not as long as Josh... xP but I think that it is pretty... ok in that sense... but I'm still trying to understand Pastor Adrian's message... Yeah and I "feel" that God is doing something mighty in the Youth Ministry and Satan is trying to fight back. Hard. So we could keep praying for the Youth Ministry, for Pastor as he is ministering to us and the apparent devil attack shown in Priscilla. But we believe God can do anything amen? And remember to pray for our classmates/ collegues/students/friends/slaves etc. that God will appear to them and they will see the LIGHT!!! Yeah and we gotta pray for each other. Cos the devil kinda hates us all... So we gotta make a stand and kick the devil in the butt when he comes to tempt us. Of course we cannot do it by our own strength. God is the only one who can strengthen us divine-ly to stand guard against the devil attacks. In Ephesians 6:14-18, Paul is talking about the armor of God. This verse kinda stands out to me.
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" Eph 6:18
Not only must we put on the armor of God, we gotta praying in the Spirit. Oh yah, the armor of God, in summary, is...
-Belt of Truth
-Breastplate of Righteousness
-Shoes filled with the Gospel of peace. (need some help interpreting this part)
-Shield of Faith
-Helmet of Salvation
-Sword of the Spirit.
I suppose these "items" can help us against devil attacks... Right? Hehe...
Another part I want to share about is in 2 Peter 2:1-22. To summarise it up, it is talking about false teachers during the end times. (which is about now... I think). Yeah so looking around, it seems kinda true right? All these talk about evolution and other stuff. They are all out to stop the Truth from spreading. I just wanna share this point so that we can all be geared up and ready for the next blow the devil will send. Cos if we are doing all these (serving in the Youth Ministry... different areas) in God's will (which I believe we all are) then the devil will go out to all odds to try to stop us, in terms of circumstances, emotional issues etc. I mean, when you tell someone secular about the Good News (generally, from what I've seen) they will think you are some kinda weirdo and they do not want to have anything to do with you. During Pastor's message on Sunday, he mentioned about righteous anger. It is frustrating right, seeing a lotta people rejecting the Good News. Ok lar, from what my classmates were telling me, they just cannot believe that Christ died for us. Christ died for us cos He loves us right?
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" Romans 3:23-24
Yeah, just want to end off with these few verses...
"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility" Ephesians 3:11
"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised"Hebrews 10:36
"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" 2 Peter 5:7
Yup... that's about all I have to share today.
God bless all of you amen,
Yong Quan
P.S this is abt 2 month's worth of... stuff
Monday, October 22, 2007
okay! my spiritual walk huh!
well. i've been on spiritual high for this whole week.
and um partly cuz of the rusty event.
but seriously man! its kinda cool! cuz i feel really really excited about our youth now. and all the cool stuff that's been happening to the sec 1's... well. mostly the girls but aye!
and..hm well im like so ready to go RAAR RAAR for youth now! i think i know how ben feels :D
and yup! THATS ALL TONIGHT
YOU KNOW WHOSE BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW?
ok you're wouldnt know anyway hahaha;D
well. i've been on spiritual high for this whole week.
and um partly cuz of the rusty event.
but seriously man! its kinda cool! cuz i feel really really excited about our youth now. and all the cool stuff that's been happening to the sec 1's... well. mostly the girls but aye!
and..hm well im like so ready to go RAAR RAAR for youth now! i think i know how ben feels :D
and yup! THATS ALL TONIGHT
YOU KNOW WHOSE BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW?
ok you're wouldnt know anyway hahaha;D
1st Post
Yay!
I get to be the first person to post on the new Youth Music Ministry (YMM) Blog!!! gosh, there are now so many blogs around these days it's hard to keep up with all of them.
To recapitulate (if my memory does not fail me), some of the functions of this blog is to allow persons in the YMM to:
a) Share their spiritual lives (both in good times and struggles)
b) Give words of encouragement / edifying comments
c) Thanksgiving
d) Any other issues pertaining to the YMM
Yep, the above are just a few purposes of the blog and in no way should the blog be limited to them.
Anyway, so I'm suppose to share how things are going for me spiritually. As of today things are still going really swell. God has really been ministering to me through QT, the services and i'm really just amazed by how God is moving in the YM and I am so encouraged by the young people's passion for God (I managed to read some of their blogs today).
However, having said that, we must be extra cautious and careful of attacks from the devil as Adrian and Minwei have shared. It's so easy to feel hyped up for now especially when you hear so many people getting excited for God and expecting really big things to happen. But what would our reaction be when people around us show signs of losing their passion or those "big things" don't come to pass as we thought they would be. I have experienced such things happening in my life and I must confess that they have discouraged me greatly at times.
I still remember when we were all praying for Pris to be completely healed by a certain date but when it did not happen my faith was shaken. However, looking back at that whole saga, I am actually glad it happened because it increased my faith eventually, gave me a more initmate understanding of God being the master of every situation and thought me alot about seeking God for ourselves (big thanks to Ben & Vincent for their sharings here).
Having said the above, I'm not trying to say that we should not expect big things from God lest we feel greater discouragement. Neither am I saying that I have doubts that God is going to do something really awesome (He already is doing such amazing things and I bet there's more to come =)!). But yep, this is just a reminder to myself to be continually vigilant in these areas because I for one usually get very discouraged when I see friends back-slide and feel a sense of guilt that I didn't do more.
Believing in my own abilities and efforts to make things "work" for God is still an area which I struggle in and it's because of this I get easily discouraged when things don't work out as I want them to be. It's especially dangerous when I deceive myself into believing that I've given God control by doing spiritual things when actually I am focussing more on the acts I've done instead of God. For example:"Hey God. I've prayer so many times, I've fasted so much, I've done my QT, I've spent so much time preparing for worship but yet you don't seem to be working!".
Think God has really been continually dealing with me in this area and the more I am willing to let God take control and change my attitude it's amazing how things work out and even when they don't seem to work out that spirit of discouragement is no longer there.
As we look to God to send us revival, there may be times when negative things come our way. Let us not lose track of all the things our God has done and can do and will do because of some discouraging issues. Instead, lets continue to place all our trust in our Saviour, committing everything into His hands.
I get to be the first person to post on the new Youth Music Ministry (YMM) Blog!!! gosh, there are now so many blogs around these days it's hard to keep up with all of them.
To recapitulate (if my memory does not fail me), some of the functions of this blog is to allow persons in the YMM to:
a) Share their spiritual lives (both in good times and struggles)
b) Give words of encouragement / edifying comments
c) Thanksgiving
d) Any other issues pertaining to the YMM
Yep, the above are just a few purposes of the blog and in no way should the blog be limited to them.
Anyway, so I'm suppose to share how things are going for me spiritually. As of today things are still going really swell. God has really been ministering to me through QT, the services and i'm really just amazed by how God is moving in the YM and I am so encouraged by the young people's passion for God (I managed to read some of their blogs today).
However, having said that, we must be extra cautious and careful of attacks from the devil as Adrian and Minwei have shared. It's so easy to feel hyped up for now especially when you hear so many people getting excited for God and expecting really big things to happen. But what would our reaction be when people around us show signs of losing their passion or those "big things" don't come to pass as we thought they would be. I have experienced such things happening in my life and I must confess that they have discouraged me greatly at times.
I still remember when we were all praying for Pris to be completely healed by a certain date but when it did not happen my faith was shaken. However, looking back at that whole saga, I am actually glad it happened because it increased my faith eventually, gave me a more initmate understanding of God being the master of every situation and thought me alot about seeking God for ourselves (big thanks to Ben & Vincent for their sharings here).
Having said the above, I'm not trying to say that we should not expect big things from God lest we feel greater discouragement. Neither am I saying that I have doubts that God is going to do something really awesome (He already is doing such amazing things and I bet there's more to come =)!). But yep, this is just a reminder to myself to be continually vigilant in these areas because I for one usually get very discouraged when I see friends back-slide and feel a sense of guilt that I didn't do more.
Believing in my own abilities and efforts to make things "work" for God is still an area which I struggle in and it's because of this I get easily discouraged when things don't work out as I want them to be. It's especially dangerous when I deceive myself into believing that I've given God control by doing spiritual things when actually I am focussing more on the acts I've done instead of God. For example:"Hey God. I've prayer so many times, I've fasted so much, I've done my QT, I've spent so much time preparing for worship but yet you don't seem to be working!".
Think God has really been continually dealing with me in this area and the more I am willing to let God take control and change my attitude it's amazing how things work out and even when they don't seem to work out that spirit of discouragement is no longer there.
As we look to God to send us revival, there may be times when negative things come our way. Let us not lose track of all the things our God has done and can do and will do because of some discouraging issues. Instead, lets continue to place all our trust in our Saviour, committing everything into His hands.
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