2006 WILL BE AN AMAZING YEAR!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!
Disclaimer: This is a very LONG entry...Not for the faint hearted!! hehehe... :P
Time flies. It's yet another year. Back in Melbourne. Bad flight. Not feeling too good. Best time to lie down and just reflect on the year past and look ahead to the year that is already here.
It's been a very difficult year for me. The challenges came in many different forms...But the most difficult was at the end of the year. It was a least expected situation..Yet it has transformed me in many ways and drew me closer to God and his plans for my life. I've learnt, this year, that difficulties and challenges are not necessarily bad things. It is hard to go through them but God allows it so that he can iron out our rough edges and mould us into the person who will be more and more in His image. This is out of God's love for us...
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. - Hebrews 12:5-13
There were some very tough choices that I've made this year, which I am facing up to the consequence now. Yet, in every pain of going through it, I know it is what God wants for me. I know that it was and still is for the better. In Him, I WILL trust!
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." - Hebrews 12:2-3
But as I look further back, it has also been a year of bonding and going through seasons together with people who have been placed in my life. It has been a year of miracles when we least expected it...when Crystal's family were delivered and accepted Christ within a week of Crystal going home. This has been the miracle that God promised end of last year! The miracle of God's salvation over Crystal's family...and I thank God that as a friend and a shepherd, I have been able to share in Crystal's joy and pain. That's what God placed us with friends for..."Love one another just as I have loved you..."
My foundations for 2006 is...the book of Hebrews...Joseph's integrity and spirit of "doing the best wherever I go"...Caleb's wholehearted following of God (Numbers 14:24)...God's encouragement to Joshua to have faith...Rahab's faith in "the God of Heaven and Earth" that believed even when she had not seen...and unfailing HOPE in a faithful and loving God!
My Goals...spend more time with family (especially family!!!!) and friends that I love...Travel to France and Africa...SAVE to travel!...Converse in basic French by April so that I will be able to speak French when I go to France...Pray more!...Love more!...Enjoy myself in serving and loving people...Do my BEST in my current job before I leave in April...Open my life to more experiences to enrich myself...Become an AUNTY!!!!!...
The life and characteres of Joseph, Caleb and Joshua have been presented to me time and again in the last 2 months. Pastor has preached on it and time and again messages i've heard and books I've read have been about them. Pastor Chew Weng Chee of SIB KL focused his message and theme for 2006 around them. It was another refreshing and heart-stirring message from Ps Chew...
MOVING FORWARD WITH EXCELLENCE
Dr Ps Chew Weng Chee, 1 January 2006. SIB, Eastin Hotel, KL
What is Excellence?
I agree totally with Ps Chew that Excellence is not about being perfect. We could never be perfect. But it's about being the best AND doing the best for God. It's an attitude inside that has to be expressed in as a visible product in our life to see the sincerity of our desire for 'excellence'.
God demands excellence because:
1. God is an excellent God - Psalm 8:1, 9:1
2. Excellence GLORIFIES God
When we are excellent, God would be very pleased as a Father. It's like in life, when you do well, you bring pride to your father. Eg. When you excel in your studies, when you are successful in your business etc. you are glorifying God when your attitude was one of excellence.
3. When we are excellent, God is pleased
Eg. Joseph was excellent in everything that he did, so God was pleased with him and granted him favour. Was Joseph perfect? No! He's just like you and me and everyone else.
But it was Joseph excellent spirit - When he was a slave in Potiphar's house and even when he was a slave, he always saw to it that he managed everything excellently. (Gen 39 - 41) When we are excellent and have God's favour upon our life, we will naturally be a "light that shines before all men" - Potiphar saw that God's favour was upon Joseph (Gen 39:3). And Pharoah commended Joseph, saying, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God? Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you (Genesis 41:38-40)."
Can anyone say that about us today? "No one is like this man/woman, in whom is the spirit of God."
Pharoah was talking about a slave, a prisoner and a Jew. In those days, these were the lowest positions a man would hold, yet Joseph became the most powerful man after Pharoah over night because of his faithfulness, integrity and EXCELLENCE for many years ever since he was sold as a slave by his brothers to the Ishmaelites.
No matter the situation we are going through, whatever difficulties we are facing, we can be excellent for God. It's an attutide and spirit within that is necessary. God's will alone is not enough if we don't do anything about it or follow him half heartedly. Do you think that Potiphar, the prison warden or Pharoah would have placed those important responsibilities under the care of Joseph is Joseph was mediocre or slip-shot about the way he did things? Again it's not being perfect but doing our best with what we have and who we are...
Excellence is not our status, it's our stature. It's the attitude that testifies to the strength of the character in us. "It's not what you say you are, but what you do that comes out of who you are inside."
Ps Chew gave 2 Challenges for the year of 2006:
1. Be WHOLEHEARTED - Go all out for God!
2. Finish STRONG - Go the distance for God and Don't give up!
Caleb was wholehearted for God
The other Israelites were so close but did not experience God's promise because they doubted God and refused to cross into the land that was right before them...the promised land flowing with milk and honey. How many times have we stood before the blessings that God wants to give us but because of the challenge that stood in the way, we lose heart and turn around. But God commended Caleb saying, "But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it." (Numbers 14:24)
We see in Joshua 14:6, Caleb goes to speak to Joshua on behalf of the people, (we know this was Caleb because of what he says in Num 14:6-7) that they would win the battle against the Anakites, reknowned 'giants' who were strong fighters. This were words of a man who was 85 years old, who is as vigorous as when he was one of the young spies who were sent to survey the land over the Jordan river.
3 times in this Joshua 14, Caleb affirmed that he has "followed God wholeheartedly. This year, on top of what we have been doing, do even better! But don't be a man-pleaser but be a God pleaser...Colossians 3:23 - "". Just like Caleb, will you follow Him FULLY?
Let us BE the best and DO the best!!!
Go the Distance - FINISH STRONG!
In other words,
When we have excellence, God blesses us because we are doing the best we can for Him. And so God blessed Caleb. God blessed Caleb in 3 areas:
1. Land = territorial influence
When God gave land to Caleb, he gave it up to the priests and made it a city of refuge. God takes it one step further - Hebron becomes a place of blessing for Jesus. When we give something to God, we can trust that God will multiply it...even if we don't live to see it.
2. Longevity = a HEALTHY Long life!!
God gives us long life because there is a job to be done.
3. LEGACY - to pass on to generations
Joshua 15:13-19
Judges 3:9
God is a generous God. He WILL NOT shortchange us! It is not the status, it's stature that's important. It's an attitude within expressed out in altitude. Caleb drove out 3 Anakites. In verse 16, Caleb offers his daughter to be married to the man who would defeat the 4th Anakite, Kiriath Sepher. And Othniel, Caleb's younger brother does so, and he would become the first judge of Israel (Judges 3:9). Caleb passes down his legacy to his children. His spirit of excellence! Acsah, his daughter, asked not only for land but for springs of water (water is a precious commodity in those days) and Caleb gave her the best (v 19). When we bless God, God will never shortchange us...even passing down to our generations!
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