Listen

O Lord you love me so much,
Will I understand the wholeness of your love?

I wish to know and I wish to fathom,
And even if I do, will I ever understand?
No I will not ...I know.

So oh Lord, even in passing whispers,
Speak your love and let the ears of my heart listen,
Let them give attention to its Creator;
In your words then will my heart find rest

In the chaotic entropy of life,
In worries, strifes and mundane routines,
You alone can bring stillness to my soul
You alone can surround me with pristine peace,
Now this I know, so I shall tell my heart this:

Oh! be still my soul. Your Lord is here,
Oh what a wonder, wonder of wonders,
The Ancient of days takes pleasure in a sinner,
Now my soul is quietened by your presence,
Silence captivated, heart tumulting to hear Him speak,
To be satisfied with words of life from Life Himself.

Now, He speaks each word going deep,
Springing new life and hope, radiating light,
Though not understanding all,
His words bring sound sense and wisdom within,
Each crevice and artery of my heart being lit with holy fire,
An impossible joy rising, yearning to leap in physical ecstasy
With a song, shout and praises for the most High.

But He says "Sit still, my son" and listen,
So I do, as a horse ready to be broken,
Mesmerised by the master of heaven and earth,

O Lord, and My God, I am in quiescent,
Calmed by your love in sweet embrace of your arms.

By SK

What Love is this?

Thou art in Heaven, seated high and above,
Exalted in might and strength;
Yet O Lord, your love stretches and reaches down
To the sons of men who are nothing but dust.

O Lord you choose to let your light shine upon us,
So these earthen vessels can hold Heaven's greatest treasure,
To reflect and radiate the divine presence of Messiah's light
So that these particles of dust can shine like bright crystal stars.

O Ancient of Days, King of all ages,
Exalted in Glory and splendor;
Yet O Lord, you garbed yourself in humility and shame,
To save the sons of men who were worthy of death.

O Lord you adorned your bride thus, in shining garments,
So that we are holy, pure and in beauty surpassing,
Sparkling, forever glimmering, tender and loving bride of God
So, now we can live with You forever and ever in your eternal love.

By Sam Kurien

Shalom

The Lord is my Shepherd

Recently I started reading the book "Travelling Light" by Max Lucado. I am sure many of his readers will agree how Max's books bless people all round the world. Certainly this son takes a lot of traits in story telling from the Master Author Himself. Anyway Thanks a lot Max!

I wanted to post some thoughts and record how blessed I was, having just read two chapters of 'Travelling Light". To summarise, he begins the first chapter with how we carry the heavy burdens of life like anxieties, guilt, expectations, worries, etc. He goes on to teach us that God's wish for us is to leave these burdens and travel light. The second chapter talks about David's Psalm 23 and how this Psalm has blessed people all over the world. Sung in thousands of languages, brought comfort to people in troubles, wars, family feuds and in every pilgrim's progress as a source of strength and encouragement. Max suggests that David's use of the word "The Lord" (the name of Yahaweh) was very intentional and inspired. Instead of choosing the other names of God like 'Adonai', or El Shaddai, he uses 'The Lord' to convey not only his praise but to let his readers know the great weight and meaning of knowing whom we are calling upon. Max explains further that our God is not like a genie puffing out at our command to fulfill our wishes, nor is He a God who is a wise grandfather sweet, but unable to help, and neither is our God an absent Father who appears for some time on Sunday and disappers for the rest of the week. No! this is not the kind of God we need or have. So true, is his explanation of why David choose God's revealed name of Himself. Let me paraphrase Max and and add my Praise in the following lines.

We need a God who is the The Lord God Almighty, who is The Lord of Hosts. The God who flings a billion stars into billion galaxies and a billion galaxies into a universe. We need a Almighty God , who, by His single word sustains and holds all creation. We need a God who takes a lump of earth and forms man, and gives him life, fusing millions of cells into a lump of flesh we call a brain and giving it a trillion neuron connections. We need a God who has chosen to love us inspite of being unworthy. We need Yeshua, who not only bought us out from slavery, but adopted us, became our best friend, and even has made us heirs to rule with Him. We need a God who is 'The Lord", my faithful Shepherd.

Blessings,

Jesus said "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mathew 11:28,29 NIV)

Lessons from Noah's Ark

Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark...

• One: Don't miss the boat.
• Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat.
• Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
• Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
• Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
• Six: Build your future on high ground.
• Seven: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
• Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
• Nine: When you're stressed, float a while.
• Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
• Eleven: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

Author: Unknown
God bless.

The Cross on the hill

I lived in Shatin for almost one year. And the first thing I noticed on my landing in new territories was the Cross on this hill. The sight of a cross obviously filled my heart with joy but never knew then that in my journeys to work and wanderings all over Hong Kong I will pass by this cross so often and would be blessed by it so wonderfully.

This cross for your information is gigantic about 12ft to 15ft towering in the air. Contrastingly, beside this hill is another hill where a buddhist temple stands. It is a well known tourist spot as it displays 10,000 gold idols of the grinning and groaning buddha's. Even from far away the hill with the cross stands much higher and elevated than the one on which this pagan temple rests. Isn't that interesting? Because of this elevation, the cross can be seen very clearly by all people downtown Shatin and all the surrounding areas. I find this not only interesting but am reminded how the idol of Dagon fell before the ark of covenant. (Read the story in 1 Samuel 5 ). The cross of Jesus Christ will always stand higher. The signs in the earth are many for people to open their eyes and see of our victorious Savior's doing.

I most often see this cross passing Shatin on the KCR train when I peer to look at it and remember what my savior did for me on that cross. That cross has been a constant encouragement, reminder and a blessing on my journeys to work. A reminder of the price my Savior paid, and to what extent He went to rescue me so I could stand and fellowship with God forever.

I always wanted to go upon that hill and see this cross closely. It took me almost three years to get there. Last month I finally got the chance to hike up that hill. I liked the place instantly, a few big rock boulders on which you can sit and pray and trees all around. I am so glad I came up to this hill first before visiting the touristy place down below (you now know the one I am talking about). If you are in Hong Kong and happen to pass by Shatin look up on that cross on the hill and know the One who loved you gave Himself for you.

Shalom

Fairest Lord Jesus

In my morning travels to the office, sometimes I stop for my Starbucks fix. Today was one of those days where my stomach needed a fix too.

So there was I, lounging on the plush seating listening to my IPOD to a new Album (I am Free by Ross Parsley). I was having a great time with the Lord, along with the Starbucks milk, (decaffeinating the coffee addiction with milk) honey and toast to keep company. Then, this old hymn “Fairest Lord Jesus” came up which New Life Church has now made more contemporary with inserting a cool chorus somewhere in between.

The Lord did something amazing, as I heard this song, my heart overflowed so much in love and adoration of my savior. Any blood pressure cuff would have exploded measuring my heart rate as I sang along this song. He filled me so much that I just started bawling. I was wondering why am I crying so much at such a beautiful song. I realized then it was the sweet company of my Awesome Lord that caught and lavished the admiration in my heart for Him, hence the tears. He was choosing to receive my praise through this song as I sang along and He was filling me with His joy. It amazes me that the King of heaven takes time to come and join you at Starbucks (of all the places) to receive your praise. My Lord thou art fairer more than anything, more than anyone. You shine brighter than the brightest star in the heavens.

Read along the verses of this hymn by clicking on this link and let the praise rise from your heart to His:

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/f/a/faljesus.htm

Blessings and Shalom

Legacy

Today as I traveled to work, I was reading Charles Swindoll's "David", the first one among the Great Lives series. The last chapter talked about David ending his era and giving his final advice to his son, Solomon. This really blessed my heart today and that is what I want to share and record as it correlated with my morning prayers. So let me turn the clock to 45 mins before my travel.

Earlier in the morning, as I was praying and having my worship time. I was praying for my children (though we don't have children yet, my wife and I pray for them) and while doing this my thoughts wandered in thinking how right from conception and even before, God knows them. He has seen the unformed and the unseen, yet to be and yet to come. He has placed fathers and mothers to care for the lives He brings to life. He has placed them not only to be role models of living for Him, but also telling them about Himself. They are to impart the knowledge of the Holy One, and most importantly teach them to seek Him with all their being. As I randomly thought these things, I was telling myself that right from the time when my wife is pregnant I am going to tell the child about our Lord. Ok, enough of a peak into my thought trail....

Coming back to the topic of the book. Charles was talking about the legacy we leave behind for our children. David spoke to his son saying "As for you my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him; He will reject you forever." (1 Chronicles 28:9-10)

David very well knew through his life that the most important thing was to know God. So, Let me summarize his advice to his son, from which we can learn so much.

1. Know God
2. Serve Him with your whole heart (which effectively means Loving Him with your whole heart in all you do) and a willing mind
3. Seek Him and He will let you find Him

Swindoll goes into great details and captures all the points above beautifully. But what impressed me was what a great legacy David was leaving his son. Through his own experiences of strength, success, failures and weakness David had learnt to rely on God, knowing Him, serving Him and seeking Him with all His heart. This is what we as a families are placed on earth to do: to glorify and extol the name of our Savior, passing this great legacy to the next generation. I was indeed blessed in my spirit to pray for my children even before they come to be and lay strong foundation for them to know Him.


Blessings,

Know, Serve and Seek the Lord your God with all your heart.

God Cares

Today we had our usual Thurday lunch prayer meeting at the church. All the members couldn't come so Tony, Catherine and myself met and we were sharing about what God is doing in our lives. Suddenly Catherine's friend walks in and is suprised to see her (they hadn't met for a long time). Catherine introduced Julia to us and she told us that she only had five mintues and asked us to pray for her job situation. Apparently she had just joined this new job and was not liking it, she also expressed that she had changed so many jobs and was getting tired of it. Earlier in the morning I had read in Isaiah 62 that the Lord humbles himself from His high place to look after the heavens and the earth. Even cooler than that is the fact that Our God is so intrested in our individual lives and wants to help, guide and care for us. So, I was not at all suprised that He cared for this girl, changed her directions to come to the church where we met, and appointed a time for us to pray (without our knowing) for her need. Our God cares for our good and he will intervene when we are troubled and answers even before we ask.

From the Faith and Bible League Tract

I love it....hope this one ecourages you greatly

He came from the throne of the Father to the womb of a woman. He put on humanity that we might put on divinity. He became Son of Man that we might become sons of God. He was born in a supernatural way, lived in poverty and was reared in obscurity. He had neither wealth nor influence, yet the wisdom of men has never matched His wisdom. Never has a man spoken like this man. His family was inconspicuous and un- influential. In infancy he startled a king. As a boy, He stunned theologians with His knowledge and wisdom for He was taught of God. In manhood, He ruled the elements and quieted the raging sea. He healed the multitudes without medicine. And fed thousands from a boy’ lunch. Even demons obeyed Him and He gave back live to those who died. He never wrote a book, yet none of the libraries of the world can contain the books that have been written about Him. He never wrote a song, yet He has furnished the theme of more songs than all song writers combined. He never founded a college, yet all colleges together cannot boast of as many students as He has. He never marshaled an army, yet no leader has ever had more volunteers. Great men have come and gone yet. He lives all. Herod could not kill Him. Satan could not tempt Him to sin. Death could not destroy Him. The grave could not hold Him. He laid aside His purple robe for a peasant’s gown. He was rich yet for our sakes He became poor. He slept in another’s manger. He rode on another’s donkey. He was buried in another’s grave. He conquered death and rose on the third day as He said He would. He ascended into heaven and is on the right hand of the throne of God. One day He will return with power and great glory to judge the world when every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue shall confess Him as Lord. His friends gladly. But enemies seeking for a place to hide from His face. He is the perfect one. The only one who can satisfy the soul. He gives everlasting life to those who love Him. He is altogether lovely. But best of all He is my Savior.

You are all I Need

Sweet Jesus, you are all I need,
You have set my heart at the right place,
For now I know you are all I need
Be it in pasture land, desert or a palace,
Let my heart rejoice and be always thankful
For all the blessings and longings you pour out
I will turn them back to praise and thankfulness
I will tell my heart they are not the toys I need,
All I need is you alone,
You are all I need.

Thank you Lord

Thank you Lord for teaching me this,
Opening my eyes to the truth,
You are God who will provide,
You are God who saves your servants,
You are Almighty, You are all caring,
You are my refuge, You are my protector
My skills and abilities, my talents and all that I possess come to nothing,
Nothing do I bring to change things around me,
But You O Lord remind me from Your word,
Your word gives me life and your word watches over me,
So I will shout that word from atop skyscrapers and tell it aloud in this land
I will shout like David to the giants I face "You come with sword and javelin,
but I come in the name of my God, the Lord God of Israel"
Oh Lord what a blessing, thank you Lord for blessing me with Your word today.

Early in the morning, Lord had reminded me of some verses from the Psalms 81: 4-6

"This is the decree of Israel an ordinance of the God of Jacob. He established it
as statue for Joseph when he went out against Egypt, where he heard a language
we did not understand. He says "I removed the burden from their shoulders, their
hands were set free from the basket"