Key to unlock heavenly blessings - Faith

The key to unlock heavenly blessings. 

Why is faith that important? And what role does it play in our daily life?

It is important for us to understand that faith itself is not something that occur naturally, it has to be cultivated and learned. So now what is faith and what can of faith I am discussing in this post? 

According to Dictionary.com, there are several definitions of the word FAITH:

-Confidence or trust in a person or thing;

-Belief that is not based on proof;

-Belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion;

-Belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit;

-A system of religious belief;

-The obligation of loyalty of fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance;

-Christian theology. the trust in God and His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

From all the definitions above, we can have a quick glance of what faith really means. However, Understanding what is faith is one thing and integrating this important substance in our lives is another thing, it is utterly essential for us to understand and integrate it into our lives if we hope to live a better life.

We need faith in our life, because without faith basically we would not be able to live our life on earth unless, you declare that you can live by your own and handle everything in your life by yourselves. But that is impossible in this modern world, the reason? In one way or another we would need to put our faith on different personal, for example we have to believe that the bankers are not playing around with our fixed deposit savings, and we have to put our faith into believing that teachers and lecturers in schools and universities are teaching our children appropriately. If this faith is missing, we would start to doubt in every single stuff that come across our life and with everything bugging us all the time, how could we have a peace of mind at any given time?

"Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoratically possible"

William James

Upon reading the gospel of Matthew in the bible, I was strucked by the numbers of miracles that had happened were due to the faith of that person/group of personals:

Matthew 8: 1-4

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came  and knelt before him and said."Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

The proclaimation by the man with leprosy saying that Lord if you are willing, you CAN make me clean. He did not doubt or what-so-ever that God can heal him, even though at that time leprosy was probably incurable. And because of his faith in believing God can heal him, in verse 3: Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man."I'm willing," he said."Be clean!" Immediately he was cleansed from his leprosy.

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Matthew 8: 5-13

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help."Lord," he said,"my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly." Jesus said to him,"Shall I come and heal him?" The  centurion replied,"Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one,'Go' and he goes; and that one.'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant,'Do this,' and he does it."

The centurian shown great faith in believing that Jesus' does not even have to go to his house in order to heal his servant, and Jesus Himselves shown approval of this great faith shown by this man and subsequently the servant was healed.

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,"Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith......Then Jesus said to the centurion,"Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that moment. 

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Matthew 9: 1-7

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their FAITH, he said to the man,"Take hear, son; your sins are forgiven."...

These men that brought the paralyzed man were men of faith, and clearly they believe that Jesus at the time is the one who CAN help them.

So he said to the paralzyed man,"Get up, take your mat and go home." Then the man got up and went home.

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Matthew 9: 20-22

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve yeras came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself,"If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." 

The clear understanding of who Jesus was had granted the women great faith, she knew that Jesus is the Lord, and it is mentioned that she said to herself:"I WILL be healed." Take note, she did not say might, but instead she said will. And the result was:

Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed at that moment.

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Matthew 9: 27-31

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. 

These blind men were clearly incapable of seeing what Jesus had already done in the past, but yet they have this faith and belief that Jesus could help them and therefore:

Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith let it be done to you"; and their sight was restored...

These were incidents that had happened in the bible, miracles and things that seems impossible and beyond the comprehension of mankind. A person with faith would see a tree growing out from a mustard seed, a person with faith would hold on to what he/she believe even though the circumstances are telling otherwise, a person with faith would pray untill God answers his/her prayer, a person of faith can unlock the blessings that God had already prepared in store for him/her.

Have faith fellows, for faith is the key to unlock the chest of blessings in heaven.

The Tower of Babel

In the book of Genesis, there happened a defining moment in the history of mankind, a time where God had separated people to different parts of the world. Center of the event was the building of the Tower of Babel. It was recorded in the book of Genesis in the bible, chapter 11:1-9 :

"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other,"Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly."They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortat. Then they said,"Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth." 

      But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said,"If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel--because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth."

At that time, people shared a common language which enable them the ease of communication because no translation or what so ever is needed in order for them to accomplish a tast or goal. But why God confused their languages? Isn't it good for all of them to speak in a common language?

In order to answer that, we will have to look into incidents that had brought the resulting confusion of languages among the people.

First, the objective of the construction of the Tower of Babel.

Genesis 11:4

Then they said,"Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth." 

The objective of them building the tower was clear, they were building it to make a name for themselves. What does that mean then? Anything wrong about making a name for ourselves?

Look carefully throughout the passages, there isn't any mention of God in all the things that they were doing. So what is the problem in the construction of the Tower of Babel? I would say the problem lies with the pride of the people back then. They were building the tower for themselves, nothing to do with God and by mentioning in verse 4 that they want  to make a name for themselves meaning they want to prove that they can do anything they want, just like God. 

There is no wrong in making a name for yourself, but it is definitely not right if the motive behind making a name for yourself is self-centered, is to boast about who you are but not who God is. Thus thats the very reason why God had chose to confused the languages of the people in the time of the construction of the Tower of Babel. The tower symbolizes the pride and the self-centered mindset of mankind.

However there is one thing that is definite good we could learn from the construction of the Tower of Babel, which is the power of UNITY. In verse 6 of chapter 11, the Lord said,"If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them."

God knows what these people can do if they are united as one, speaking the very same language and striving for a common goal. God knows, and therefore in the book of Acts in the new testament, God gave them the common language again:

Acts 2:4-11

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked:" Arent't all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"

There and then, God gave everyone who obey and follow Him a common language, and from the common language a common goal.

Matthew 28:18-20

Then Jesus came to them and said,"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commonaded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age."

Bold and strong, I encourage you to be. For God knows the potential of His people that when they are united as one, sharing a common vision and passion for His kingdom that there is nothing impossible that we cannot achieve through Him. Humility is the key, and God had given His promises, it is up to us to accept His grace and anointing to fullfill the destiny that He had layed in the lives of everyone of us.

The beauty of Proverbs

The book of wisdom - Proverbs

If you haven't start reading this amazing book, I encourage you to have a look of this book. It is stated in the very first chapter verse 1-6 on what you would gain from reading it:

Proverbs 1:1-6
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young-
let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance-
for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The book is so down to earth that it discuss about parent and children relationship, financial management, attitude, character and etc. The basic needs of our daily life, its all written in this book of wisdom. I would love to share what I have learnt from this amazing book, to serve as a sneak peek for some of you out there reading my blog.

In Proverbs 4:14-15:
"Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not  travel on it; turn from it and go on your way."

The passage was an advice to all, basically on how we could set our path straight in our lives. "Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.", now first how do we define path of wicked or walk in the way of evildoers? Isn't path of the wicked or the way of the evildoers are very subjective? I may think that watching pornography is wrong but you could think that is right.

In Genesis 3:22, God knew that we human now, like Him can tell the good from the evil:
"And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil....". Your biological body knows what is good and bad as well, your T and B cells are fighting bad bacterias and viruses.

We know what is good or bad, deep in our hearts, we know. Its just that sometimes we allowed our values to be compromised with the majorities, to be covered with layers and layers of deceptions. We chose to ignore the bad, evil in order to find a place for ourselves in this society, in the world.

You may ask:"If everyone is doing it, the TV is showing it, Internet is full of it, newspapers are publishing it, so   what should I do to not be involved in it?. Avoid it, the proverbs said.

It is important for us to realise that sometimes, we have to start avoiding ourselves to fall into traps. For instance to make sure we are not infected with AIDS, the simplest and best way would be abstinence. Using a condom does not solve the problem, it only decrease the risk of getting infected with the disease. Same goes to our daily lives. How to we make sure we would not start doing things that wasn't right either against the law or the word of God? The best way would be again, avoid it.

This is what I have learnt from the book of Proverbs, more to come.

New Semester - January 2011

Its wonderful! Finally after almost 2 months of study break, I am going back to class again on 10th of January. Just managed to enrolled myself for coming semester, and the moment I knew I am taking 7 subjects I was like:"Ok, this is something new".

Wasn't expecting so many subjects in a single semester, anyhow I wasn't worried nor pressured, being the usual me I am sort of thrived to tackle the difficult tasks. I have had so much favor of God in the passed semesters in the previous one and a half year, I totally admit that it wasn't me but Him alone that I could do well in my studies. I thank God for that and I'm not flattered by the success I've got from previous study experiences. My friends were giving advices to me, asking me to consider dropping one subject or two to take the huge load off my shoulders and I thank them for their concerns they have shown to me.

In Proverbs 1:7 " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instructions."

In God I believe, for I hold on to the principles that were imprinted in my heart, that God is the source of all things that we ever-need. I believe God has what I need and therefore by getting close to Him, I knew I could do anything that He wanted me to do.

God is the CREATOR of the world, so what is so difficult about biology, physics, chemistry or maths to Him? He created them.

Though God, I believe I can.

顺服，一生都学不完的功课

这几天我从新去阅读创世纪，

虽然读了几遍，但这次我定意要领受不一样的东西，我用研读来形容我新的读经方法。

从创世纪5-6章，看见了一个人的生命。

他的名字叫挪亚。

创世纪6:8-9这样形容: "惟有挪亚在耶和华眼前蒙恩.......挪亚与上帝同行."

很显著的，挪亚在神眼前蒙恩，是因为他与神同行，是因为他完全的顺服跟随神的步伐。

创世纪6:13-22，上帝吩咐挪亚建方舟:"上帝就对挪亚说.....你要用歌斐木造一只方舟.."

第22节提到挪亚的反应:"挪亚就这样行..."

创世纪8记录了洪水以后，挪亚一家要出方舟的情形。13节提到:"...挪亚撤去方舟的盖观看，便见地面上干了"。那时挪亚可以选择立刻从方舟出去，毕竟在里面大约有370天之久。他可以这么做，但他并没有。第15节提到:"上帝对挪亚说....都可以出方舟"，这之后，挪亚才和他的家人一起从方舟里出来。

挪亚的生命，我可以用四个字来形容: 完全顺服

建造方舟不是一件普通的事情，而且是个长时间的工程，有人推测最长可能要花上100年的时间。一百年，可以想象其间可能有很多流言蜚语，批评论断，在长时间的催眠下很可能打击挪亚的信心。再者，圣经里只记载了上帝吩咐挪亚建造方舟，但却没记录在建造过程中神是否有向挪亚说话。我看见的是一个完全顺服并忠于神的人，是神所恩宠的人，执着于神在100年前对他说过的那番话，坚信他的神所应许他的。

完全的顺服，是我从挪亚身上学习到的功课。

他的顺服，让人类存留了希望，带来了人类与其它生物短暂的救赎。

但有另外一个人的顺服却带来了人类的永恒救恩。

他为了你和我的缘故，虽然挣扎但却完全顺服，只为了我们在永恒里可以有永远的平安，喜乐。

有一首蛮旧的诗歌，很有意思。

顺服，一生都学不完的功课。

New Year Resolution 2011

Its 2011, and it is already the 4th day into this brand new year.

Pastor James shared a sermon based on a familiar bible verse when it comes to this time of the year in Philippians chapter 3:12-14:

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take gold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. but one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwatd in Christ Jesus."

Forgetting the pass, embrace the present, and strive for the future.

These are the 3 things that would define my new year 2011. 

Forgetting my failures, as well as my success, in doing so I would not be bounded by my previous failures which would stop me from believing what I can achieve through God, believing that I could do great and that retification could be done. Forgetting my success to prevent myself from being deceived by my pass achievement, putting me firmly on ground to work hard and smart in order to achieve the same, if not more.

Embracing the present, to live the best I could be living, now. Do not delay nor wait, I want to live my life as it is, to fully utilize the time I have in doing things that are pleasing in His eyes. That could be watching television, paying friends visits, cell groups, dating time, anything, that is pleasing in His eyes. 

Striving for the future, to keep myself on course on what I want myself to be in the next 5 years. Where I would be standing in the year 2016? Thus goals are set, and they are set to be achieved. 

I want to be more Christ-like this year, definitely there would be ups and downs in the year, but I by faith proclaiming that through all these ups and downs in the year 2011, I would eventually emerged at the end of this year as being more Chirst-like, being closer to God.

I thank God for the past 2010, and is anticipating what is installed for me in 2011.